Lunar Rose
by APIII
Summary: The following is the complicated affair between the two most adorkable introverts Beacon has to offer. Watch as Jaune struggles to choose between the women who've always been there for him, all while discovering who he truly is, and what he can become. Dark forces are at work to corrupt the Knight along the way, will he stay the path, or will he falter? Co-authored by Fate-117
1. The Seed

**Lunar Rose**

 _By AnonymousPrick3 and Fate-117_

 **Chapter One:** _The Seed_

 _ **Revamped April 12th, 2016**_

 **Prick: Hello, returning and new readers alike! This here is the original author, AnonymousPrick3, but let's keep it lax, and go by Prick. Come now, who doesn't like some prick? And this here, is my little prick, Fate-117, co-author of Lunar Rose. Introduce yourself, Fate, don't be shy. The story has undergone a bit of a hiatus, but, as of December 9th of 2016, we're still active, and working on the story, don't worry. I'm personally rewrtiting the majority of the beginning of the story, as my skills have considerably improved over the course of the story.**

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Jaune was at a loss. With his team all off on their own; Pyrrha giving some of the other first year students a bit of aid in the Emerald Forest, Nora and Ren had also taken off to the city, intent on getting some shopping done.

While many others would've assumed it weird how nonchalant Jaune and Pyrrha were about the duo heading off on their own, anyone who'd actually gotten to know Ren and Nora knew that there wasn't anything of that nature going on there, or, as Nora had so often put it, they're not "together-together."

Normally, Jaune would've found himself with Pyrrha for the day, as she was often apt to rearrange entire schedules to assure Jaune wouldn't spend the day by himself. At least, that was how the blonde had always felt it seemed, but today proved to be an exception, as she had already made plans with Ms. Goodwitch and couldn't back out. He knew Pyrrha probably tried her best to do so, and summed it off as her friendly nature, and most certainly would've done the same for any of her friends.

Deciding that now was a good as time as any to leave the dorm, Jaune checked over himself in the mirror and decided that his hoodie with the chest plate and scraggly blonde hair would make do, like always, before opening his door into the hallway and began making his way towards the exit to… wherever he decided to wander to.

Before Jaune could take another step though, the familiar whoosh of a door opening caught his attention. Faster than what most would've claimed possible, Jaune felt a small pair of hands give him a light hug from behind.

"Uhhh… lemme guess…. Ruby?" He half stated half asked.

"Yup."

Jaune felt the arms drop and turned around to the face the prodigy Ruby Rose herself. The Arc thought the hug itself was pretty strange coming from his equally socially awkward introvert friend, and apparently, so did she, as she seemed to be attempting to shrink into her hood.

"What's up, Vomit Boy?" The scythe-wielding teen asked, seemingly over her small fit of...whatever, now practically bouncing on the balls of her feet as she held her hands behind her back.

"You're the only one who calls me that now, not even Ice Queen does it." Jaune said with a grimace that didn't even make it to the end of his sentence before he was back to the grin that Ruby always seemed to bring out of him.

"Yeah, I know. It's just, it's one of the names I called you for awhile, before everyone else opened up to you! It's like, an inside joke. Between, you know...friends… but better. Like… Nora and Ren." Ruby said, her small speech ending with her caressing Crescent Rose in her sheathed form.

Jaune was a bit taken aback mentally, and literally reeling back from her in shock of the practical confession from his fellow leader. Dropping the suave smirk, he gave her a smaller, but infinitely more sincere smile.

"That's… well… that's great to hear, Ruby. Really, it means a lot!" The blonde said, awkwardly standing there as he thanked her, feeling like he should have been hugging her or something, but was far too shy to even attempt it.

"Yeah…" Ruby said, sheepishly scratching the back of her head, before realizing Jaune didn't seem to be going to say anything any time soon.

"So, where's your team?"

"Oh, uh, _my_ team? Yeah… they're… places, ya know?" The Knight said, not quite certain why he didn't outright tell her they were off on their own, it's not like they had abandoned him or anything.

"Oh. So your team abandoned you, too, huh?" Ruby asked, not caring the least bit seeing as how sharing awkward stories was practically how her friendship with the older boy initially began.

"Er, yeah. You going anywhere?" The Knight said, now reverting back to the smirk as he internally chuckled at how much Ruby seemed to go with the flow, considering that was mostly what her sister was known for.

"Nope. Just hunkered down the dorm with a couple tons of cookies, a week's worth or so if Zwei stays out." Ruby said with a cheery laugh, failing to realize in her cookie driven rant that she had mentioned the _not-so-legitimate_ mascot of Team RWBY, that was most certainly _not_ regulation.

"Who's Zwei?" Jaune asked, curiosity sparking in his eyes at the possibility of a potential new friend.

Ruby gasped in shock before her eyes lit up mischievously, mostly from the sheer joy of getting to share a secret with whom she had practically declared as her best friend minutes ago.

"I'll introduce you, but you have to promise on your life that you'll keep the secret!" Ruby said, disappearing in bursts of petals to whisper parts of her statement from different angles.

"Yes…and, Ruby?" Jaune said, his head down, eyes covered by his hair in a despairing mood. Ruby tilted her head at him, confused as to why he went from such a joking mood to this in a matter of seconds.

"You can't abuse your Semblance like that. It's TOO COOL!" Jaune beamed at her, piercing blue eyes gazing into silver ones.

"Come on, then." Ruby said, quickly averting her eyes and turning around, thankful her cloak covered her up from behind.

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 **Prick: All right guys, that was the first chapter. While this is a revamp, I won't be changing anything ( that is minuscule) fundamental, besides some format. For starters, we'll now be using lines to signify a break or cut in the story, and the line of bolded X's to signify the start/end of Author's notes.**

 **Fate: And since I feel that Prick never intended for the story to have a lot of action, we'll be re-touching a lot of the fight scenes (all of them, honestly), adding necessary details that'll enhance the overall experience.**

 **Prick: We'll also be doing reviews that came after this chapter that were posted and we never got to.**


	2. Besties

**Chapter Two:** _Besties_

 **Fate: So, chapter two is here, even though it already was here.**

 **Prick: Once again, Fate's astuteness proves to be absolute.**

 **Fate: Let's keep this brief, much like this chapter.**

 **Prick: Yeah, we'll keep it brief, seeing as how you got the shakes and can't fucking hold your phone still. Honestly, how does a bookie run out of heroin?**

 **Reviews! Or whatever…**

 **Fate-117: Don't review on our own story again, you fucking prick, this is worse than my shameless advertising. By the way, I'm going to go have a lunch break and eat my favorite meal, a Happy Meal, because** _ **I'm Lovin' It**_ **.**

 **RPGPersona: Lancaster, yeah, weird how we both like that. As my bookie, whom I trust completely because of their background as a native Floridian, says, "the first taste is always free."**

 **Guest (1): Wow, I feel messed up now… no one should ever have to go through the tragedy of starving, like you're about to go through. Enjoy it while it lasts.**

 **ShadowKnight49: Sadly, the mysterious God (who definitely wasn't Barbara, wink, wink) removed all traces of what you're talking about. What are you talking about?**

 **Guest (2): You're sounding like my co-author/bookie. Now, we will be getting risque in the future, like WAY in the future, and this is a M-rated fic,** _ **because those are the only ones worth reading**_ **, but we won't be getting so graphic that people will consider it smut. Refer to Couer to see what kind of details we'll be doing.**

 **killerxhunter14: Naw. I think it's fine at this point. One chapter will do it.**

 **Guest (2? 3): So… Ever hear a mexican say the word one. That's how I initially pronounced his name, and spelled it out. So, thank you very much, for that.**

 **Guest (4): Thanks for the news flash, and no, I won't be deleting your review, mostly because they're hard to get and because I'm not afraid to admit I was wrong. Better to admit it than pretend it never happened. I was genuinely thankful for the information, but will be keeping Lunar Rose as the title,** _ **obviously**_ **.**

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"Soooo, this is Zwei!" Jaune exclaimed, chuckling as the furry little dog burrowed happily into his grip.

"Yep!" Ruby beamed, her feet swinging as she sat on top of her makeshift bunk bed.

"No wonder you were so serious about me meeting him. As adorable as the little guy is, I'm guessing it won't matter much to the school, huh?" Jaune asked, lying down in what he assumed was Yang's bed - if the blaringly bright yellow sheets were any indication. Zwei, who now deemed the new intruder nice enough to leave alone with his master, went off on a noble quest to scavenge for food and remain an independent beast tamed by no mere man!

"Yeah, everyone agrees we should just keep him here. You know, I took him out in the field on our very first mission, though." Ruby said absentmindedly as she fed a begging Zwei a cookie.

"Wow. That's… something. Are you…usually so forthcoming with things like these, Ruby?" The Arc asked, the last part coming out after a short pause. Ruby misinterpreted his words and a slight, almost non-existent, blush - which it might has well been for all the blonde knew - flushed her cheeks as she stuttered her response.

"No…not usually. Weiss has been teaching me to not talk about everything to anyone who'll hear it. You're special, though."

"How so?"

"You know why, vomit boy!" Ruby practically said into her hood as she gave Jaune a playful punch on the shoulder.

He noticed with detached amusement that his Aura only lowered slightly, as opposed to the usual significant amount of Aura that he'd lose whenever Ruby's raunchier sibling decided to get physical.

"I've no idea what you think could possibly make me special, I'm not like you. You're good at a lot of things. Plus, you mostly keep your hands to yourself, unlike Yang." Jaune muttered the last part while rubbing where she hit him, feeling a phantom pain of the last time the fellow blonde hit him.

Jaune took a gulp as he was met with silence, and began to worry that Ruby had taken offense for her sister. He couldn't help but let out an exasperated sigh, his hair now covering his eyes, as he saw Ruby once more fiddling with Crocea Mors.

"What was that?" She asked, her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth as she ran her hands over the sheathed sword and shield.

"Nothing. I don't understand why you're so obsessed with Crocea Mors, though. Sure, it comes with a sturdy shield, but it's no Crescent Rose."

Ruby audibly gasped as she held the shield and sword to her chest possessively.

"Jaune! How could you say that?! How many times have these things saved your life! Have you no shame!?"

"It's not like that, Rubes!" Jaune exclaimed, chuckling as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with one hand while waving the other hand frantically in the hope that it would make Ruby listen to him.

"Explain then." The red-tinged girl demanded, her face contorted to look suspicious and mischievously amused at the same time.

"Well,-" _'-Yang-'_ , Jaune added internally, "Crocea Mors was always passed down after some great feat. Starting with the first noble Arc to wield it, my great-great-grandfather, who forged the damn thing. That in of itself is amazing, considering this thing has gone through several life times of abuse without so much as a dent." Jaune paused for a moment to lament, his eyes trailing off over the sword she held so close to her for the briefest of moments. "Everyone else... they either slayed some great beast, or did some heroic feat like saving entire villages at a time... Me; I was born... That's about it. The sword, it's just a hand-me-down because of me." Jaune finished his self-deprecating speech with a sigh, his eyes locked onto his knees. That's why he was left breathless when Ruby practically slammed against him.

"Ru-." The blonde knight tried to say before being cut off.

"Jaune. Are you _hearing_ yourself? Why do you think so little of yourself? Don't you realize it _hurts_ when you say things like this? It hurts me, it hurts everyone, to know you think so little of yourself. You're an amazing person, Jaune. So what if you didn't do something amazing to earn it? You've more than earned the right to wield it since you've gained it. You've used it so many times to save so many lives! You used it to save entire blocks of _a freaking city_! That sword has vanquished evil from even the enemies of those that would sooner hurt you than be thankful, all because of you."

Jaune looked up to see Ruby had her hooded head against his shoulder, only her chin and the single tear streaming down it was visible. His heart tugged as he heard that he did something to hurt someone he cared about; practically a crime to the Arc name.

"Ruby... I... didn't know you cared so much. I'm sorry. Thank you." Jaune said, slinging his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

"It's…it's no problem, Jaune. You're spe-, you're my best friend, you know?"

Jaune's jaw actually dropped as he absorbed what he had just heard. A huge grin broke across his face as he pushed Ruby away before grabbing her hood and pulling it off, staring into her silver eyes.

"Yeah."

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 **Prick: Man, I remember when a few follows and a couple favorites made my day. They still do, in all honesty, although now that I know the rush of making a big milestone in reviews, nothing can reach that high! I really would appreciate it if you guys took a moment to review once you reach the end of this story, whether it's the final end or just the chapter I left off on. I don't expect nor ask you to review every chapter, just the one would be grand.**

 **Fate: Yeah, even though I'm closer to the step-father for the story, I still enjoying seeing the reviews.**

 **Prick: Step Father? Ignored and hated? Yeah, that sounds just about right.**


	3. Ruby's First Drink Part 1

**Chapter Three:** _Ruby's First Drink - Part One_

 **Fate: Three chapters in a night. Admittedly, they're small chapters. But, it's still nice to see Prick actually finally get some damn work done.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Fate-117: Seriously, stop this, Fate. It's downright shameful, and should be faced like any problem in life,** _ **Just Do It.**_ **(Fate: Do we get our money now?)**

 **RPGPersona: First off, thanks for your dedication. Thanks a lot for the positive reinforcement,** _ **I for one**_ **like Zwei, too. *glares at Fate***

 **Zaegen: Once again, thank you for your dedication. Thanks, I agree, the lack of Lancaster is why initially began this story. And while most of this was on my own, everything now is with my good friend, Fate, so I can't take all the credit. Feel free to give it to me, though, we can't help that, now can we?**

 **bellacane16: It's always nice to see my work with other authors pay off, glad you decided to give me a look. I'm flattered that I managed to make Jaune as a character appealing to you, but a bit confused as I genuinely feel like I've kept his personality the same as in canon, and feel that he'd shine (eh?) a lot more, if RT were to give him the proper situation. For now, Lunar Rose will have to suffice.**

 **Guest (4): Nice to see you again! As for the wiki, praised be it, I find it at times unreliable, seeing as how when I gave it a look after reading your review, it was nonsensical babble about Ruby being a pop-star and everyone else her entourage. As for the fail, I genuinely believe the original watchers of RWBY believed Jaune's symbol was a Crescent Moon. I'm not trying to cover up anything, I just like the sound of Lunar Rose. Although, I'm curious as to what you would have me name the story, since naming it** _ **Lancaster**_ **doesn't seem like much of an option...**

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Jaune resisted the urge to swing his feet. He was currently sitting on the ledge of a structurally questionable building, his view of Mt. Glenn was, in simple words, astounding. With his weapon not having any range beyond his arm, per say, as he never thought to add a scope to it. He was currently sitting through the last shift of what was their, relatively, short mission to Mt. Glenn. He was bored out of his mind had to be content with watching the black blurs of what he assumed were Grimm, oh, _so_ many stories below.

The strangely colored horizon implied dawn would be coming soon, and only a few hours were left until they could be on their way home. Jaune deemed it safe - enough - to finally relax for the first time in the long weekend since entering the abandoned city.

Pulling out a small flask from a pocket inside of his hoodie, Jaune took small sips of the unknown substance, content with the peace and quiet. That's not to say he minded when an exasperated sigh was heard from behind when his favorite scythe-wielding friend took a seat next to him.

"Ruby."

"Jaune." Ruby said, seeming fine with ending the conversation there. After a about a minute of staring at the pretty sight, she grew bored before pulling out Crescent Rose and peering down its scope at the unknowing Grimm below.

"Can't enjoy the simple things, huh?" Jaune asked, taking a small sip of his flask before moving to put it away.

"I have no idea how you handle guard duty like this." Ruby said, now having sheathed Crescent Rose and wrapping herself with her cloak, playing mindlessly with her hood.

"Why do you still wear the hood, Ruby? Like, everywhere you go?" Jaune asked, the question stemming from boredom, seeing as how it was something Jaune had quickly come to accept of the girl without question.

"It reminds me of a better time. Better things. And besides, hoods are cool." Ruby said, smiling shyly as she defended her honestly childish reason. She smirked before pulling Jaune towards her and pulling out his own hood over his head for emphasis.

"Guess I can't argue with you there." He chuckled. Ruby let go of him and he tilted back up, and after seeing about a moment's hesitation flicker across Ruby's face, he watched as she stood up and put her head on his lap. Her body was now parallel to the ledge and only inches from the sheer drop. Jaune, however, wasn't concerned with that, he was currently staring down at a sideways Ruby with a glint in her eye and her hand rubbing against his shirt.

"R-Ruby?!"

"What, Jaune? It's cold. I saw you drink some milk. Probably got yourself a warm thermos stashed away somewhere else!" Ruby said in defense and her hand found the small pocket in the jacket before removing the flask.

"That's _not_ ….milk." Jaune said sheepishly.

"Then what is it? Water? _People Like Grapes Soda_?" Ruby asked, still sideways, immediately assuming Jaune was nervous about a sweet tooth and not bringing along a more nutritional ration.

"Well, it's... whiskey." Jaune stated, taking the flask from her before taking a small swig, only to see Ruby sitting up next to him and take the flask away. _Again._

"What's it taste like? Alcohol. Yang… she always tried to keep me away from the stuff. How do you even have this? You're only 17, Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed, all the while opening the flask and taking a whiff, grimacing as the odor burned her nostrils and made her nose flair in what Jaune could only describe as somehow strangely cute.

"Well, I'm not really much of a drinker. I don't like beer, honestly. My father was always a man to celebrate with spirits, and, naturally, he offered me some from time to time growing up; said it built character." The Knight said with a frown as he shook the flask, noticing it significantly lighter, almost empty even.

"Ruby, you didn't down it all, did you?"

" _Noope_." A red-flushed Ruby said before hiccupping.

"Oops, I turned into Penny. I wonder if I get robot cannons and get to keep my soul." Ruby said, her words barely slurring.

"Better lay down before you roll off the building. You've had too much to drink, missy, talking crazy. _Robots_." Jaune said as he backed away from the ledge a bit more, hoping it would be enough to catch a tipsy Ruby before pulling her back down to his lap. She giggled and grabbed his hand, leading it to her back, making him stroke before letting go and returning her hands back to her sides, wrapping herself up in her blanket of a hood.

Jaune watched the sun rise and make its early morning ascent as he stroked a still red Ruby, the alcohol having left her system about an hour ago.

"Abandoned city that also happens to be the biggest tomb in existence: bearable." Jaune declared to himself, eyeing Ruby out of the corner of her vision.

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 **Prick: Hey guys, I just wanted to take a moment to pull you all aside and mention just how much I appreciate Fate. He works rather hard and his devotion is admirable. I don't know what I'd do without him.**

 **Fate: *Stares blankly before the intern points at the teleprompter as if their life depended on it.* Oh! *Clears throat.* "Thanks. Here, have my Snickers."**

 **Prick: Gee, thanks! I was kinda hungry...**

 **Fate: "I just want to take this quick chance to mention** _ **my**_ **story, The Scales of-"**

 **Prick: What the fuck are you doing? No one cares, Fate, get back to work.**

 **Fate: Hm… should've given that Snickers to the homeless guy...**


	4. Ruby's First Drink Part 2

**Chapter Four:** _Ruby's First Drink - Part Two_

 **Prick: Ah, chapter four. I remember this, so nice, so soothing. Like Shine…**

 **Fate: Funny how goals become more tangible when one strives for them. You said you weren't satisfied with this chapter and sought to change it, and now, months later, here we are.**

 **Prick: Yeah, life is fickle like that, but what can ya do?**

 **Reviews:**

 **Fate-117: Ignore him.**

 **RPGPersona: I mean, she wasn't hammered, but she had to sleep off that buzz, and yes, she** _ **was**_ **buzzed, if the Penny slip up and cannon pondering wasn't enough of an indication.**

 **redfootblue: Thanks! I loved the initial Ruby too! And I'm glad someone caught the reference. I mean, who doesn't like grapes? *glares at Fate***

 **killerxhunter14: Sure thing, just for you, buddy. I'll keep it up as long as you guys show interest.**

 **Guest (4): Unstoppable force...**

 **Scribe-Monk: Oh, I'm glad you feel that way, although I sincerely hope you're as open-minded to change as Monty was...yeah...**

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Jaune was watching the shade slowly disappear, noting that he'd be back on his way to Beacon in less than an hour. Ruby, who was once again utilizing her cloak, had fallen asleep on Jaune's lap, the sun being blocked by the heavy cloak. Had Jaune not been so lacking in social trends, he would've realized just how comprising the scene would've looked to anyone else. Like the hulking behemoth who'd just turned a corner and caught sight of the two, stopping for a moment before leaning against a pillar, arms crossed.

"Damn, Jauney-Boy, I guess she's _extra off limits_ , huh?" Cardin called out before whistling loudly enough that there was no doubt the rest of the leaders wouldn't hear, and maybe a Grimm or two.

"Wh-what? No **!** It's not like that at all!" Jaune squeaked out, considering whether or not to wake up Ruby before things got even worse.

"Hey, I get it. You wanna keep this personal. I mean, her sister would kill you. _Slowly._ Even I'm not crazy enough to touch that." Cardin said with a smirk on his face, apparently hearing a sound and turning his head around to face it before immediately swiveling back to Jaune; the grin seemingly twice as large now.

"Plus, she's like, fifthteen, but I'm not going to judge you. _She'll_ do it." The taller boy said that last bit with a tone that someone would give an enemy that they'd never see again before snickering and walking away.

Jaune's face paled as he realized who he was talking about as _Coco Adel_ , leader of Team CFVY, walked out, her shades the only thing stopping him from seeing the fierce gaze that screamed _who wants to get their ass kicked,_ and she no doubt was aiming it at him.

"Coco! It's not-." The soon-to-be deceased Arc nearly whimpered before, once more, being cut off.

"Shut it, boy. You have ten words before I throw you off this building." The ever fashionable girl said sternly, leaving no doubt about how serious she was with the situation. Jaune opened his mouth to start, but Coco took off her shades to give him a death glare.

 _"Ten. Words."_

He closed his mouth in shock, and he couldn't help but smile at Coco, glad to see that as little as - he assumed - she knew Ruby, she still looked out for her. Sadly, she saw this and assumed he was taunting her before gritting her teeth.

 _"Five. Words."_

Paling once more, a cold sweat slid down his temple, as his mouth turned into a thin line with his brow furrowing in concentration.

"Wake. Her. Up... Ask. Her..?" Jaune asked, counting the words with his fingers before sighing in relief as he made sure he didn't pass his quota. Any extra word or utterance and he was certain that he'd be sent flying down to his death.

The sweetly named girl narrowed her eyes at Jaune before deciding that was an acceptable answer for five words. She walked over to Jaune before grabbing his hand and placing her briefcase on it. She smirked at the small grunt of pain he gave as he tried, fruitlessly, to pull his arm out from the _seemingly_ light briefcase. After lifting Ruby's hood, she was relieved when she saw Ruby was face up, not that she let it show.

"Ruby? Wake up. I have some questions." Was all Coco said before giving the hood a tug. Ruby's eyes fluttered open and she gave Coco a questioning look before yawning, which Jaune mentally noted as adorable, before getting up, giving the seemingly trapped Jaune another strange look.

"Is something wrong, Coco?"

"Well…it's just…the way you…left the group to be with Jaune, and were gone for a while. We sent Cardin to see….He whistled, thought he was calling. Plus…the way you were positioned. Damn it, Ruby, did _anything_ happen?!" The machine-gun toting girl asked, at first with a bit of humility showing before growing frustrated at her own squeamishness over the subject. She could crush the skull of a Grimm with the simplest of swings from her briefcase, but she was dancing around the subject of intimacy.

"No. Why?" Ruby asked, her calmness making it obvious to everyone that she had no idea whatsoever of what the older girl was alluding to.

With a shake of her head, Coco gave Jaune a sheepish smile before picking her briefcase up and walking away from the two with a wave behind her head.

Jaune let out a sigh as the blood began rushing back to his arm, much to his pleasure. The sensation told him his arm could be saved. Once he felt his arm nearly returning to normal, he gave Ruby a weak smile as she gave him a confused face.

 _"Why would they think we had_ _ **sex**_ _?"_ Ruby asked, Jaune noticed, a small blush tinting her cheeks.

With all the blood now rushing back to his face, Jaune began coughing violently as he tried to fathom just how the ever-innocent Ruby could be so dense yet knowing at times.

As the cough worsened, Jaune took his shoe off, much to Ruby's confusion. Before she could ask, he pulled out a second flask and took a swig, ceasing his attempts to cough out a lung.

' _He must have as many of those as uncle Qrow...'_ Ruby thought to herself before another thought rose in her head.

"Uh, hey, Jaune… do you think I could have a taste?" Ruby asked, her face as red as the tips of her hair, as she remembered the prior night and the adventures the small buzz had led her to.

"Y-yeah, Ruby, but this time; take small sips. Savor the burn, and let it glide." Jaune instructed, imitating the tone a teacher would make, and held out the smaller flask to the teen once more.

She took a reluctant sip before pulling back and grimacing.

"It's no milk." She said with a light chuckle as she handed it back to Jaune.

"No kidding." He said, laughing a bit now that the situation had calmed down.

"Hey, Jaune, before we get back to the bullhead… I just wanna say thanks… and sorry!"

Giving her a look, the blonde decided to see where she was going with this.

"Thanks for the drink. It was my first, you already know, so it's something else I'll always get to share with you, Vomit boy." Ruby smiled and gave Jaune's arm a gentle hug, resting her head against it as she let the alcohol stir a bit in her system.

"And…sorry for putting you in that position last night. I _know_ you'd never do anything," Ruby said, seemingly sadder for a half second, "but _other_ people wouldn't understand. Don't worry, I'll stand in front of you when Yang hears about this."

"N-no problem." Jaune said, smiling a bit, even as he imagined Yang really pounding him.

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 **Ok, so, we finally redid this chapter. I'm glad to see there weren't many things we changed. Well, plot wise, anyways. And for all you readers craving, "delicious lemons," I didn't mean pounding in** _ **that**_ **way, ya pervs.**

 **Prick:** _ **Say it.**_

 **Fate: *Looks at script* I don't even** _ **like**_ **fried chicken…**

 **Prick: But it's** _ **Finger Lickin' Good!**_

 **Fate: I thought I was free of the Colonel's tyranny when I quit my job at KFC… I guess the words, "Swapped one villain for another," have never rang more true…**

 **Prick: How do you assume you'll be payed for your services? Oh sh-...Yeah, just keep waiting on that check in the mail.**


	5. Ninjas of BLAKE!

**Chapter Five:** _Ninjas of…Blake!_

 **Fate: Oh, yeah… forgot about this chapter…**

 **Prick: It's like, one of my favorites!**

 **Fate: Is it? Why?**

 **Prick: It encompassed that happy fluffiness I had originally shot for.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Fate-117: Why do I even let you continue to write your name down?**

 **RPGPersona: Rolling your eyes in order to praise Jaune's ingenuity? Sure, I'll take that. And yeah, poor Jaune would've met his untimely demise had Yang been there. Least it would've been quick.**

 **Zaegen: Adorkable, I love that word. Who wouldn't? *glares at Fate***

 **Derox-1223: Mh… Never knew Mario and Luigi had a cartoon.**

 **skelebon: Yeah...no...They would've castrated Jaune for that joke, if I'm interpreting it correctly. If not, well we'll just say Fate interpreted it like that, the sexual deviant that he is.**

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Ruby sighed. Professor Port's stories were so enthralling…the first couple of times.

The man was extraordinary, no doubt, but there's only so many ways to kill a Grimm before they all start to sound the same. For the most part, Ruby would've taken a nice trip to dreamland; where Crescent and her would go off on amazing adventures and talk about girl stuff, like the stock sizes on some of the weapons of their fellow warriors… Today, though, she found herself far too distracted to be distracted about Port.

A certain someone kept running through her head and she found herself making up imaginary conversations while they battled, sometimes Grimm, other times each other. She tried not to dwell too much on the _who_ , but more of the _why_.

She never felt any emotions when they fought, but it was too serious to be a friendly spar. She could feel herself give it her all, but there was no hatred, no bitterness or determination to win, just the urge to stop herself from coming to harm. And then there was that Monty-damned smirk. Just thinking about it made her blush. Ruby honestly had _no_ clue why she'd ever make such a face. She was currently looking over at her busty sister who had made a small paper triangle and was flicking goals to Nora across the room.

She was contemplating telling her about the recurring dream, but Yang was naturally a teaser, and she loved to make fun of connections that _didn't_ exist. Monty knows how many times she'd tease Jaune and Pyrrha. Ruby wasn't ready to sit through the ridicule, so she crossed her off her checklist.

"Nora… nope. Weiss, naw; she'd never talk about stuff like this. Ren… that's an option, maybe. Jaune, that's no good either. Pyrrha, she'd never be able to relate." Ruby mumbled beneath her breathe. It was the extra loud flipping of a page that caused Ruby to look over at her partner. She flinched when Blake made eye contact and realized, with her enhanced hearing, Blake probably heard Ruby before herself.

"Eh… sorry, Blake. Didn't mean to disturb ya." Ruby said apologetically as she assumed Blake was mad because she had disturbed her. Blake watched her in silence for a moment before answering.

"It wasn't that, Ruby. I can-." She said before the bell cut them off. Ruby waited with a sheepish smile as Blake's bow twitched in what she assumed was anger.

"Like I was saying, I can help you." Blake said as they walked out of the classroom.

"But you don't know who-." Ruby started before Blake's hand covered her mouth.

"I don't need to know everything. It'll make it more mysterious if you don't tell." Blake said with a knowing grin on her face.

"You just wanna live one of your books don't you?" Ruby said, deadpanning.

"Yes, and if I can help my leader along the way, then why not?" Blake asked, grabbing Ruby's hand as she dragged her down the hall.

"Where are we headed? The library?"

"Why do all of you always choose to defile a place of silence and literature with all of your problems, which you only fix through talking?" Blake said, a hiss barely being audible at the end of her tirade.

"You make a good point." Ruby said with a timid grin as she stopped dead in her tracks and picked up Blake, slinging the unwilling faunus over her back, before disappearing in a flourish of roses. Blake closed her eyes as the wind started to make her tear up, and she wondered how the young teen could see without goggles. When the wind finally stopped whipping into her ears, and she heard the sounds of nature, she opened her eyes and realized that they were now on a bench outside of the building.

"Well, we're here. So, go ahead and tell me what's troubling you."

"Okay…" Ruby mumbled, playing with the ends of hood as they sat down on the bench.

"Hey, look at me. You're with a friend, okay? Trust me." Blake said, her breathing becoming erratic at the end as she quickly looked around before removing her bow. Ruby gasped at that before giving a timid smile, touched.

"Well, I keep having this dream. In it, I'm fighting this person. I'm…. _really happy_ ,like, _really_. And we're both giving it our all, but we never go for any _ending_ moves, even when we get the chance. And it always ends up the same, our weapons are locked in place, between our sweating bodies, and then… well, it ends." Ruby muttered loud enough for Blake to hear, finding the most interesting rock to have a staring contest with. Blake sits there, stupefied, before giving Ruby a huge smirk, followed by a wink, and finally, a book. Standing up and slowly adjusting her bow back on, Blake leaned over to whisper into Ruby's ear, despite the lack of people to over hear them.

 _"Page 127 takes a bit of practice, but it's my favorite."_ She says before quickly taking off at what someone would call a Faunus rate.

Ruby watched Blake take off in confusion, slowly growing irritated with Blake having heard her out, offered no advice, and then take off!

"The nerve!" She exclaimed, kicking over a loose pebble. She glared at the book before letting her expression go back to neutral, deciding to trust in her friend's choice in books.

"Alright…let's see if this thing can help." Ruby says, frowning once more as she skimmed the book to notice with disdain the lack of pictures.

" _Ninjas…of Love_? Mmmmkay. Page one two seven it is….. And his katana practically pulsed…. _**BLAKE!**_ " Ruby screamed, throwing the book away… before blushing and looking around, then promptly dashing over to it with her Semblance, finally proceeding to taking the quickest route to her room.

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 **Prick: There you have it! Smut, romance, squeamishness, the works! Literally everything any self-respecting fanfiction needs. Pack it up, Fate, we're done here. No need to continue, job finished. Mission Success. Roll credits. Red Eagle, out.**

 **Fate: Misery and pain for all.**

 **Prick: In time, in time, my old apprentice.**


	6. A Misunderstanding

**Chapter Six:** _A Misunderstanding_

 **Prick: I guess I should take a small moment to give Fate some sincere appreciation…**

 **Fate: Shut up.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Fate-117: This is the final one, I'm deleting them all after this point.**

 **RPGPersona: Yeah, this is what happens. It wasn't half bad advice, in all honesty. The payoff for managing the position is** _ **totally**_ **worth it...Or so I've heard.**

 **crimsonninja117: Your wish has been granted! Maybe shower me with your undying, absolute, subservience? Or a review, both sound nice.**

 **RyoTheSaiyan: Well, I finally took your advice, buddy! I'm just sorry it took so long to finally get to it. As for the alcohol, Ruby didn't drink an** _ **entire**_ **flask, and she did get a few hours of sleep afterwards. We** _ **could**_ **say Aura staves off the effects, but I'm flinching away from that one too.**

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"Whatcha' reading there, Rubes?" Yang asked from the door. She watched in amusement as Ruby _eeped_ before the scattering of rose petals and the lack of a book in her younger sister's hand confirmed that the younger teen had used her Semblance.

"Nothing! I mean, uh, hey, Sis'." A flustered Ruby said atop her bed, her feet not swinging, something her older sister picked up on immediately.

"Hey, sis?" The busty teen asked as she crossed her arms, giving the other female a knowing look.

"Yeah…" Ruby said, knowing she wouldn't be able to hide anything short of the truth from Yang for long.

"What's wrong?" The older of the two said while sitting down on her own bed, patting the spot next to her loudly, not so subtly demanding that she sit next to her.

"Wrong? What's there to be wrong? Everything's going great!" Ruby stuttered, trying her best to give off the confidence of an Arc with a beaming smile. Her grin went down a smidge when Yang raised an eyebrow. Her grin faltered for a second when Yang giggled behind her hand. Her grin turned into a small, but sad smile as Yang burst out laughing and slapped her on the back.

"Now, come on, Rubes. I know you know I like to tease people occasionally." It was Ruby's turn to raise an eyebrow at the understatement of the year, although the half serious glare sent her way made sure she quickly lowered it.

"It's just… I think I like this person. But, if…and I'm not even sure if it's a possibility….it would ruin things."

Yang turned beet red as she heard her sister's words. Yeah, Yang knew she usually went with the flow, and she had no doubt there were entire legions of boys, and certainly some girls, who imagined Yang going both ways but the truth was she was just as old fashioned as Jaune. Yang internally cursed, wistfully wondering why Ruby couldn't have paired up normally, with a normal guy, even Jaune at this point would've worked. Ruby was her younger sister though, and she'd accept her no matter what.

"Well, Ruby, I'm sure this person will accept you if you're true to them. Even if it may not always seem like they feel the same. Trust me, you don't want to spend the rest of your life worrying about what ifs." Yang watched Ruby squirm throughout her speech and sighed, knowing it would take a lot of courage to come out like Ruby was trying, enough courage to the point where even Yang would stop to think about the repercussions.

"They're…so much _older_ than me. And the team. It would just fall apart if…" Ruby trailed off, clearly in deep thought as her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth with her brow furrowed and her hands playing with her cape.

"Look, Ruby, I know it must seem like the most impossible thing in the world. _**She's**_ older…" Yang began saying as Ruby's blush increased ten fold and she frantically began to scream - for all of half a second - before she found herself in a headlock, her mouth covered as Yang held her.

"Listen, dear sister. Know that I'll support you with my life in everything you do. She may be older than you, she may be, for all intents and purposes, an _Ice Queen_ at times. But I know, deep down, I'm certain _Weiss_ will accept you in her own way. Now… do you still feel the need to say something?" Yang asked, only to look down and realize Ruby had been trying to gnaw her fingers off, if the slight pressure and the tiny dip in Aura were any kind of indicator. "Oh, yeah. You've probably wanted to get that off your chest for a Xiao-long time, huh? Although, I'm guessing you're not concerned with chests _much_ since it's Weiss and well...ya know." She said, laughing sheepishly as she finally let go of her sister to rub the back of her head.

" _IT'S NOT WEISS!_ " Ruby screamed desperately, wishing more than ever she could disappear from the mind-boggling awkwardness of the situation she had to silently endure just moments ago.

"Oh, Thank Monty. Not that it would've changed things, it's just… well, a lot more responsibility than just being a teasing sister is." Yang explained, not knowing how to break the awkward silence that had taken control over the room.

"Wait… it's….. not... me, is it?" Yang suddenly asked, the last part barely coming out as a whisper, the fear evident in her voice.

"NOOOO!" Ruby shrieked, this time actually disappearing in a flurry of petals as she tried to run out the room, only for the door to open and her to run head first into someone.

"Ow." Jaune groaned out as he picked himself off of the floor.

"Ruby?" He asked, stunned as he looked up to see the door shut as if he had never opened it in the first place. The stinging sensation in his tailbone and a single rose petal fluttering through the air assured him he hadn't slammed his head into the door and imagined it all in some wild concussion-induced dream.

" _Oooooohhhh._ " Yang said, watching Ruby throw herself flat against the wall farthest from the door.

"How could you?… No amount of cookies will ever erase that from my mind. I think my youth just died." Ruby mumbled, her face pale white as she chose the lesser hell of the two awkward situations.

"I'm SOOOO sorry about that. Hehe." Yang said, trying to chuckle away the thought forever as she went to pat Ruby on the shoulder, who dramatically dive rolled past her with an _eep_ before running over to her bed. She lifted it to pull out a book of all things and opened the door before disappearing for the final time that day.

Jaune walked in, dazed, as he looked at the extra amount of rose petals in the room, practically taking up the entirety of the room; a testament to just how quickly Ruby wanted to escape the tension filled room.

"Just…what happened?"

"It was…about the biggest friendly mistake to happen in all of Remnant's history." Yang said, once more rubbing the back of her neck.

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 **Prick: So there you have it! I made Yang a decent sister, even if she didn't have to! I eliminated the idea of a polyamorous love triangle, which would have most certainly been put into question in the coming chapters, and I got to tease the Orange and White Rose shippers! Now, don't think for a moment that this means anything is resolved, and who knows, if enough readers went out of their way to review, I might not let Ruby hog Jaune all to herself. We'll see.**

 **Fate: *Leisurely tugs at the puppet strings in my sleeves.***

 **Prick: *Slaps Fate* You leave those alone, Mr. You dance to my jig now. Dance, dance you fool!**

 **Fate: Sic Semper Tyrannus.**


	7. Fear Part 1

RWBY: Lunar Rose Ch. 7

 **Fear**

Ice blue eyes stared down thin brown eyes. Steely determination was met with detached amusement. An unstoppable force met the immovable object.

"Achoo."

"Gesundheit." The middle aged man with the iconic tousled grey hair said.

"I still demand Team RWBY be allowed to go." Weiss said, her sniffling taking any authority she may had have away.

"I've never had a student demand anything from me. Have I Glynda?" Beacon's headmaster said, not bothering to turn to the woman standing by the door, her arms crossed.

"Not that I know of Ozpin, now refuse already and let's get going, you have many pressing issues." The blonde said, agitation clear in her voice as she glared at the back of Ozpin's head, not understanding why Ozpin was dragging something against protocol out so long.

"You do realize why we have four members per team?" The known mug lover asked Weiss.

"Yes sir and I also realize that as Team Cocaptain, it's my responsibility to take care of my health. Team RWBY shouldn't suffer because of me." Weiss said, managing to keep her mouth in a thin line, seeing as even she knew she didn't have the audacity, or the nerve, to frown at the Headmaster of the very school she attended.

"You catching a cold makes you deadweight to team RWBY?" Ozpin asked, a bit of amusement lacing his voice as he internally scoffed as he knew the "Ice Queen", as she was known by the rest of the student body, had caught the common cold.

"No sir, but preventing them from a simple Search and Destroy mission with another team AND a professional Hunter does sound like I'm holding back the team. Make no mistake, if my dolt of a leader hadn't convinced the rest that I wasn't in fighting condition, which I quite obviously am, I'd be there shouldering my responsibilities." Weiss said quite proudly of herself, managing to get the impromptu speech out before she proceeded to cough out a lung, only managing to assure Ozpin that she was indeed no condition to fight. He stared at her, surprised that the Schnee Heiress managed to keep eye contact with the man. He never felt himself especially intimidating, but most students usually looked at the floor by now.

"By now I would've outright refused most students, but I truly feel like you'll antagonize yourself more than even your teammates would if they don't go. Very well, Team RWBY will be going to Mt. Glenn with Team JNPR and Professor Port. That being said, I expect you to personally confine yourself to this room until the staff has cleared you of everything." Ozpin said, now scrunching his face to show Weiss that he wasn't kidding, her wicked cough, no matter how little she played it down, needed plenty of bedrest.

"Understood. Thank you very much sir." The white-headed girl said, bowing her head just the slightest to Ozpin.

"Let's be off then Glynda. And do hurry, you've gone and made us late." Ozpin said as he walked away from Weiss and past the door the ever-waiting Glynda had opened up for the man. The bespectacled man didn't so much as flinch when a riding crop attempted to smash his coffee mug out of his hand, only to miss as if the thing was capable of light speed.

"Be safe, you dolts." Weiss sighed to herself as she laid back down on the rather comfy bed.

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"Awful nice of Weiss to convince ol' Ozzy to let us go ahead." Yang said to her teammates as she watched Jaune throw up all over the Bullhead floor.

"Yeah, what a treat." Blake said, scrunching her noise up at the rank odor, which she could easily smell even from across the bullhead.

"I'm not even sure how she managed it. Ozpin's…cool and all I guess, but he sure can be scary." Ruby said to herself, an involuntary shiver crossing all three of the girl's spines as they thought about the soft spoken man who had done nothing to garner such fear.

"Speaking of cool, is Jaune going to be ok?" Yang shouted at Team JNPR, who had valiantly stayed on Jaune's side of the bullhead like the good friends they were.

"Rennnn! Lemme go!" Nora said, squirming as she tried to escape the mess her leader had personally made.

"We have to be here for him in his time of need Nora." Ren said his pale face a slight tinge greener than usual.

"There there Jaune." Pyrrah said, patting the Arc on the back, the only friend actually consoling him. Yang shrugged as Team JNPR failed to respond, deciding to go back to her team for entertainment.

"So Ruby, do you maybe wanna go over the mission parameters again? You know, for everyone's sake." Yang said with an extremely convincing grin. Ruby just deadpanned at her, as did the rest of the team.

"You didn't listen to Ozpin or Port's explanation?" Ruby asked in disbelief.

"Not a word." Yang said, flexing her arms as she showed everyone just how embarrassed she wasn't.

"Well, we're going back to Mt. Glenn. Ozpin said that the train incident opened a lot of eyes of just how much the Grimm have grown down there. Leaving them around to grow even bigger would be an even bigger risk, should they ever escape or someone try to repeat Roman's little escapade." Ren said, now next to Team RWBY, who occasionally sent a sheepish twitch of a smile to Pyrrah who was now all alone with Jaune.

"So Search and Destroy?" Yang asked, cracking her knuckles with a vicious grin.

"Professor Port says there'll be so many; Search may be a bit of an exaggeration. I can already imagine all the legs that'll be smashed." Nora piqued up, finishing with a dreamy sigh as everyone backed up slightly from the two maniacal powerhouses of the teams.

"That's quite true. This mission will definitely allow you all to prove your mettle and then some! Why, the last time I handled so many Grimm was when…" Port began, popping up between the Blonde and the Ginger, pulling them in, an arm wrapped around each of their shoulders. What was left of Team RWBY and JNPR were forced to decide between the vomit covered half of the bullhead and the other half where they were in danger of being sucked into another of Port's ramblings.

"We're over the LZ. Feet on the ground in five minutes." A voice blared from seemingly everywhere in the ship.

Ren was the only person to react, which was with a quiet sigh normally exclusive for Nora's antics, as Professor Port laughed in a booming voice, before shouting "Nonsense!" and proceeding to rip open the Bullhead door. The metal doors shrieked in agony as they DIDN'T slowly roll open as they were meant to.

"Let's go then young Hunters and Huntresses! PROVE YOUR WORTH!" Port exclaimed to the abandoned, Grimm-infested city as he dived out of the Bullhead and plummeted to the ground with the finesse a man of his stature was hardly expected to have.

Team RWBY and JNPR gave each other looks and shrugged as dozens upon dozens of howls were barely heard over the shrieking wind. Yang was the first to jump after their professional Hunter, with a smirk nonetheless. With a weak grin, Jaune gave one last look and surprised everybody by following after the voluptuous blonde. The rest of Team JNPR followed with shrieks of concern, gleeful warcrys, and sighs of exasperation. Blake gave Ruby a small smile and followed suit, diving out with agility akin to a cat, or a Professor.

Ruby finally allowed her façade to fall. With no one around to hear it, she gave a sigh that screamed of anguish and anxiety. Ruby was glad she didn't follow after her sister right away, seeing as she would've never had the chance to vent her angst without someone being around to see it.

 _I can do this. I'll be fine. I have everyone else to watch my back, and I don't even need them to! I'll do fine and finally show everyone that I'M the one who they can depend on when they're terrified beyond belief._

There it was, and Ruby couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her mouth when she finally came to terms with what had been bugging her since Ozpin had assigned them all the mission. It wasn't the Grimm, and she didn't even consider that for a second. It wasn't until she felt the stability of the Bullhead falter as it began to slowly ascend. With a heavy heart, Ruby leapt from the iron bird, taking heart in the fact that she wouldn't have to face her fears right away. With a nod of her head, and the aid of wind shrieking in her ear, Ruby's face scrunched up in calculative determination as she pulled out Crescent Rose in its sniper mode and began to fire away at the horde of Grimm just outside the ring that had surrounded her fellow Hunter trainees. Using the recoil of the gun to slow her descent, Ruby didn't even think to boast as she took out around a dozen beowolves and an Ursa Major before she even touched the ground.

"Bout time you joined us Sis." Yang screamed over her shoulder before launching into the fray of black, spiky bodies that were the Grimm. With another war cry and a foot flashing about amongst the sea of black, Yang shot back to the small killzone they had established, the significant gap of Grimm she had made quickly being filled back in, in a matter of seconds.

"Tch, I'm barely here a second and I'm already done more than you, Sis." Ruby said with exaggerated bravado, which Yang responded with a sharp glare and a smirk before firing off half a dozen shots with Ember Cicilia. Blake looked around to make eye contact with Weiss before remembering the Ice Queen wasn't there. She let out a small sigh, and she let the silent message fade into oblivion: Their leader only got cocky when they were in what Jaune insisted they call, "The Zone."

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"Sorry!" Pyrrah said as she gave an apologetic look at the kneeling Arc. Pyrrah was silently prideful when she noticed Jaune didn't even flinch when the five Beowolves heads all fell to the floor simultaneously, right beside him.

"It's fine. Next time you do that again; give me a heads up though. I got a bit of peach fuzz I want to get rid of." Jaune said jokingly as he stood up and rushed to Pyrrah's side, bashing an Ursa that was behind her with his shield before Pyrrah spun around with Milo in its spear form and shoved it through the Ursa's broken defense, slashing out its throat.

"Understood Champ." Pyrrah said, blushing a bit as she called Jaune the ironic nickname that just stuck. She stabbed at Beowolf with Milo in its sword form, giving Jaune the chance to quickly dash forward and stab Crocea Mors through its chest before quickly jumping back. Pyrrah spared a quick glance behind her to check up on her teammates. She couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Nora's smile was threatening to split her face as Ren shot a dozen bullets into a row of Grimm, only managing to daze each one for a few moments. His efforts would've normally been in vain had he any other partner, but years of working together paid off as Nora was quick to swoop forward and give Magnhild a mighty heave, launching it sideways with a strong blast, and nearly wrenching off 7 beowolves heads before they all piled together and flew off to the side, comically taking out several of their brethren. What made the spectacle all the more epic and funny was the impressive fact that Nora had the strength to do this three times without stopping, a baker's dozen of Beowolves all sailing through the air simultaneously. It was a shout that brought the Champion back to her current situation.

"Pyrrah!" A distressed Jaune screamed out as he hopped in front of Pyrrah, thrusting the edge of his shield into a smaller Ursa's throat before spinning and decapitating a Beowolf mid-leap.

"Wow." Jaune said, equally surprised at himself.

"Th-thank you Jaune. I owe you a great debt of-…" Pyrrah began, using Milo as a spear to provide support over June's shoulder.

"You can thank me with dinner and a movie later Pyrrah, we fight right now." Jaune said in a joking manner, his back turned on the intensely blushing Unstoppable woman, much to her relief, and slight disappointment. Pyrrah could only nod her held with great Gustavo before leaping forward and piercing some Grimm's skull as she stood next to her amazing crush.

 _Best. Day. Ever._ Was the only thought running through the Redhead's mind.

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 _Poor things. Stuck in an endless cycle of hate, forever doomed to march towards their death against their will. Who's truly opposed here, when those opposing don't themselves even have the free will to even…_ Whatever Professor Port was about to finish philosophizing was cut off as Nevermore swooped down on him and scooped him up in its sharp talons.

 _I'm sure those children tried their damndest to warn me. Damn me and my constant internal monolouging._

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"Yyyyyaaannnggg! I told you he didn't see it!" A certain scythe-wielder whined as she saw her Hunter being whisked away.

"Heh." Yang chuckled to herself.

 _No more stories. Beacon will revere my name for years._

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"You poor creature. I'm sure you're suffering just as much as we are. Join me and coincide our races, I'm certain we'll- AH!" Port yelled mid peace speech as the Nevermore squeezed it's unusually chatty prey.

"Taste my fury you foolish hell spawn!" The heavyset man said, choosing to ignore the blunderbuss axe in his other hand as he punched the Nevermore. It swung its head over to glare at him as if it was capable of irritation, and then it had its head lopped off by the previously forgotten axe, and surprise would've surely been present in its lifeless eyes as the Professor began his free fall to the ground.

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"He's falling far too fast!" Ruby cried out in horror as cut off all four limbs of an unlucky, remarkably small Ursa.

"Yup. I wonder how he'll slow down. " Blake said simply as Gambol Shroud ripped through a Beowolf's thick muscles on the back of its neck.

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"Hmmm. Not enough speed. I'll need more." Port mumbled to himself as he swung his axe sideways, firing it off every time it faced the sky. Port became a speeding blur of red burgundy as he continued to accelerate, and he spun towards the massive Grimm horde. A Deathstalker sped along the horde and the Grimm spread apart for it to impale the foolish human who seemed to have a death wish. The blur spun towards the Death Stalker's stinger, which was now standing still, content that the Human was so willing to throw itself in harm's way. The golden appendage lunged forward, only to be roughly shoved aside as the spinning teacher slammed the axe into the side of the stinger, before slicing through it and the tail as he flew closer and closer to the Deathstalker's hardened body. Lodging his blunderbuss in the small stump that remained of the tail, the Professor used his momentum to put all of his remaining momentum into swinging his blunderbuss over his head and straight into the Deathstalker's usually impenetrable armor.

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Jaune lowered Crocea Mors as the Beowolf he was facing lowered its claws too to look over at the source of horrible shrieking, only to see the colossal Deathstalker be bisected. Jaune's jaw hung wide open, still staring awestruck at the Professor who at some point managed to get above ground level, as the Beowolf turned to stare at him and begun to swipe its claw at him, before having Milo thrown into its face.

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"Well done students! You've earned a brake if my word's anything to go on." Port boomed cheerily as he stood on the chest of the final Beowolf, beheading it easily with a mere flick of his wrist.

"Al-…ready? I hardly…broke a sweat." Yang said, with as much cockiness as she could muster being out of breathe and all.

"That was truly quite a battle." Pyrrah commented as she and the rest of Team JNPR walked up to the Hunter and Team RWBY.

"Yeah, no doubt." Jaune agreed as he rubbed his sword arm. He took a seat on a piece of cement next to Ruby, who gives him a small smile.

"It must've been, since Nora hasn't mentioned the urge to break something's legs for the last five minutes." Ren said softly, so relieved the fighting was over he cracked a joke. He gave a sigh when he was met with stares and silence.

"Anyways…Where will be setting up camp for the night?" Blake asked, looking around at the crumbling ruins that might've once been described as buildings.

"We still have a small trek to make before we arrive near the Tunnels. Once we get nearby, only then will we be able to retire for the night." The portly man said as he rubbed his grey mustache.

"Great. Onwards then." Yang mumbled as she began to stride forwards, the Professor and Blake matching their pace. Jaune began to follow when he realized that the Redhead wasn't with him and Pyrrah or ahead of them. He turned back to see the youngest of them still sitting.

"You go on ahead Pyrrah, I'll catch up in a minute. Promise." Jaune said, flashing her a small smile as he didn't even wait for her answer, turning around to go get his fellow Leader. If he had, he would've seen the small moment of hesitation flash across Pyre's face before she pulled in it, replacing it with determination that promised she'd get it done later.

"Ruby? We're all heading out." Jaune said tentatively.

"Hm. Oh yeah, sorry… I was…distracted." Ruby said, trying to steel herself.

"It's alright. Wanna walk with me or are you going to dash ahead?" Jaune asked with a shrug.

"I think I'll stick around for now." Ruby said with an uneasy smile, this of all things being the one that Jaune picked up on. With his hands in his pockets, Jaune realized that Ruby had set an unusually slow pace for them.

"Is something up?" Jaune said, not sure what he was looking to find.

"No, no, nothing at all. Why?" Ruby lied, keeping her gaze forward; only confirming to the boy something was the matter.

"I don't know. It's just…that was a lot of Grimm. More than enough to intimidate most people. I know I was scared." Jaune said, hoping to see if that was the bane of Ruby's problem. He figured that someone like Ruby would insist on bottling up something as irrelevant as fear…

"You know you always have your team…and me." Ruby said, turning to give him a cheerful smile.

"Thanks Ruby. The same goes for you." So that wasn't it. Made sense, Ruby was more than qualified. Jaune considered what else could be bothering the girl until he realized that he was making things unnecessarily harder by beating around the bush. His sisters had always told them he couldn't go wrong with a girl if he was just honest and didn't say anything stupid.

"Ruby…you said we were _really_ good friends right?" Jaune said, grabbing her shoulder and forcing her to stop, his blue eyes locking with her silver eyes.

"Yeahhhhh…" Ruby said, her cheeks slowly turning as red as the tips of her hair, rubbing her arm shyly as she wasn't certain where Jaune was going with this.

"Then tell me what's wrong. Please?" Jaune said, trying his damndest to keep his voice steady, but he couldn't stop the slight quiver, and Ruby visibly reacted to it. With a deep sigh, she broke eye contact and stopped rubbing her arm to grab at her cloak, one vice for the other.

"I'm just…scared." She grunted the last part, finding the most interesting weed on the floor. She raised her eyebrows in shock and surprise when she felt Jaune's fingers nudging her chin up.

"I'd be terrified too, having to be near Yang when she's having a bad hair day." Jaune said, cracking a smile at the younger team leader.

"That's not it silly!" Ruby groaned, a smile adorning her face. "It's just that…in the tunnels, I won't have a lot of room to run around." Ruby said after a short pause.

"Oh, there's no need to worry about that Ruby. You'll have me right beside you. Ok, if it were **just** me I could understand you being worried, but Pyrrah, Nora, Ren, Yang, and Blake will be there too. So don't worry about the Grimm." The Blonde said, trying to give her his most reassuring smile.

"It's not the Grimm." She muttered under her breathe.

"It's not? Then what is it?" The Arc said, and Ruby was actually surprised that was the thing he picked up on of all things.

"I'm just…kind of really terrified of small spaces. Running, it's not a means of escape for me, but how I face my problems. Head on, at a hundred miles an hour." Ruby said with several emotions flashing across her face.

"Hey, it's not the same thing, but I'll be there to take everything head on with you, maybe at a slight job, but I'll be there." Jaune said, grabbing Ruby's hand and giving it a quick squeeze, before letting go. Both of their subconscious internally groaned as the contact ceased.

"Thanks Vomit-Boy." Ruby said shyly, once more looking at the ground. Jaune noticed this and was about to ask what was wrong this time but was quickly cut off when a flash of red went right up to him and he felt the light sensation of Ruby's lips on his cheeks, along with lighting, before more red in the form of rose petals clouded his vision, and he gazed forward to see the Speedster had zipped ahead to catch up with the rest of the group. The Blonde Knight wouldn't do the same for another minute while he stood in place.

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 **Hello readers! Yes, the story isn't dead! I just had a lot of trouble deciding where to end this chapter and I wasn't totally satisfied with it, so it took some rewriting! Yes, chapters for the main arcs will be this long from now on, so hurrah! Hopefully they won't take nearly as long to make. After arcs though, we will return to the short, daily 1K words chapters full of fluff and what not. So, what do you guys think of the first chapter of Fear. Ruby being afraid of something, feasible? Or too OOC, make sure to comment on it in a review, and feed me some more reviews guys! I try to keep up with the story, but I feel so much more compelled to when I see people are willing to go beyond following and checking up on it when it's updated and actually offer criticism or their opinions on the story. I get the biggest grin and make myself look like an idiot every time I get a notification and realize it's a review, the place never matters! Huge shoutout to my beta's cabbageman and Moony, since these chapters are a crap ton of work for them too.** **Te amo Abuelo, espero que te queres feliz, en donde te queres. Fueste neustro goma, no te nojas con ella por favor.**


	8. Fear Part 2

RWBY CH. 8 Fear Part 2

Silver eyes stared into silver eyes. Ruby was holding her breathe, not daring to breathe.

"These things are pretty wicked aren't they?" Yang said, giving the machine a slap on the back, the visor where the lifeless eyes would've been bobbing.

"Yang! Be careful! These things are the newest Elysium Soldiers! I just wish I could've gotten the chance to see inside one of these things arm cannons!" The redhead cried immaturely, far too absorbed with the pristine Machine to care about keeping up looks.

"Yeah, be careful Yang. You shouldn't slap these things around so much. Who knows, these things might just see us as a threat and open fire on all of us because of you." Blake said from the entrance, far away from the rest of Team RWBY and the Tin Men guarding the blocked off tunnel entrance, glaring venomously at the machines as she reprimanded her blonde bombshell of a partner.

"Someone sounds unnecessarily afraid." Yang said, bemusement lacing her words as she quirked an eyebrow at the Cat faunus of her team.

"These things are top of the line, nothing short of being a Grimm or attacking random civilians will ever make these things see you as a threat Blake, no need to be intimidated!" Ruby said cheerily as she lifted of the Soldiers arms, trying to find the magic button that would make the gun appear.

"Tch, add stealing mere crates of Dust to that list." Blake muttered to herself, venom lacing the words, but who it was directed Blake couldn't be sure of.

"What was that Blake?" The blonde of the other sex said, a lot closer than the informal ninja ever realized he was.

"No-nothing! Nothing at all." Blake said, her voice rising in shock, coming off as anger to the rest of the denizens of the small building.

"Alright. I'll just…be over there." Jaune said sheepishly, not sure why Blake was so pissed, and walked over to take a seat next to Pyrrah, who tried her hardest to not let it show how pleased she was with the results of Blake's outcry.

"When are we going ahead and bashing in some evil doer skulls!" Nora cried out randomly, and everyone turned to look at their Hunter, more or less asking the same question, even if they would've worded it a bit differently. They all felt the urge to face palm, and Jaune did, as they stared at the red burgundy back of Professor Port as he sat cross-legged on the floor, obscuring their view of what he was doing with the Elysium Soldier he had forced to its knees in front of him. Before anyone could comment, Ren released a sigh and stood up, walking over to the burly man to act as the Ambassador of the Trainees.

"Excuse me Professor. I know that you are bent on making the machine indulge in your games with you, we all believe we should begin clearing the tunnels of the Grimm now."

"Yes, you're right. When we return, hopefully then will I manage to make one of these infernal machines challenge me to an arm wrestling match. Standing up and swinging his blunderbuss axe over his shoulder, the portly man turned to address all of his dear students.

"Ladies," he said with a wink, "and gentleman, for now I must forgo the match that would've finally answered the question of who is mightier, man or machine, in order to fulfill our duty as Hunters and Huntresses. It is sacrifices like these that define our life styles, but take heart, and know that we'll all working to answering the question soon. Onward then!" Port finished his small speech by holding his axe up and marching along to the blockaded entrance that would lead to the tomb of the former citizens of Mt. Glenn, swinging his arms far too merrily with Jaune behind him, mimicking the man, to which Pyrrah and Ruby snickered. Team RWBY and JNPR lined up behind the man, with Yang and Ruby taking up the back. Blake let out a sigh very reminiscent of the young man clad in green in front of her, and this didn't go unnoticed by her partner.

"Do those things really unnerve you so much?" Yang asked, deciding to keep the teasing tone she usually had out of her question. The bow wearing girl gave a weary glance ahead of her and decided it was safe once she realized Nora's antics would ensure Ren wouldn't have the time or the ability to eavesdrop on the two girls, but she slowed her pace to give them room nonetheless.

"It's not just the machines. They may be a small part of it." Blake admitted.

"While I detest the fact that we'll have some guns pointed at our backs while the Grimm rush us isn't very reassuring. You know I've…had _issues_ with the Schnee Company before and I had no qualms with destroying one or a couple dozen of their auto-mated defenses. So, to have twenty nearby, ready and alert is disheartening. Plus, the history of this place…it's a bloody tomb Yang! But you know that. I dunno, I guess my nerves are just shot to hell with all the uncomfortableness."

"I can understand that." Yang said rubbing her arm. "When Ruby was little, she was a fervent believer of spirits and ghosts and the like. More than once I had to console a terrified Ruby in the middle of the night. As time went on, she grew out of the silly habit, and incidentally got me thinking. I'm not superstitious, but this place is seriously a mood dampener." Yang said, keeping her eyes on the rest of the group who were nearing the entrance.

"But the robots are convenient, you have to admit. Armed men, stuck guarding a building with Grimm behind **and** in front of them? Their fear alone would be enough to attract everything for a mile, whereas those Tin Men, well, you can't fear if you can't even feel." Yang finished with a shrug, noticing that they had caught up with the rest of the group who were now by the blockade that separated the underground remains of Mt. Glenn from Remnant.

"Here we are. If you would allow me…" Port trailed off as he went up to the bulky door, giving the door's wheel a great heave before the rusty metal began to shriek in protest, finally sliding all the way and allowing the door to open. Stepping back, even Port shivered slightly to himself as a cool gust of wind was released and blew past the students and the intricate Soldiers alike. Without a word, they all shook off their fears, doubts, and insecurities and began walking in, only a certain scythe-wieldier reacting when the heavy door swung shut loudly behind them.

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"You'll need these." Port said, reaching in to his pack and pulling out a box, which he handed to Jaune and Ruby. They looked on in confusion until they opened their packages and realized they were glow sticks. Ruby snapped hers and gave it a good shake, amazed when the red liquid inside the tube began to swirl and illuminate nearly 10 feet around her.

"Dust infused." Port explained. "It'll burn as brightly as a sun and about just as long, like a certain beauty we have here." The professor said, raising an eyebrow at the trio that was Yang, Pyrrah, and Nora. Yang rolled her eyes, assuming Port meant her (YES! Port did in fact playfully flirt with Yang in the show, and it's even part of his personality in the official RWBY wiki, go figure) while Pyrrah gave a small smile and tried not to disturb herself too much over how the large man could shamelessly flirt with women more than half his age. Nora completely ignored him, her thoughts far too preoccupied with all the things she'd do with her pancakes back at Beacon. Port turned around as he grabbed a glow stick for himself, missing the glares Jaune and Ren shot him.

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"Here you go Blake, not that you'll need it." Jaune said, offering the usually quiet member of RWBY an unsnapped glow stick. He considered the fact that Blake had stayed at the back of the group when everyone else went up to grab because she didn't have to bother.

"And why would you say that?" Blake said, narrowing her eyes fiercely at Jaune.

 _Ohshit,ohshit,ohshit,ohshit,ohshit,ohshit,ohshit!_ Jaune internally cried out as he realized his fatal error. While he honestly didn't think he was too in the wrong here, seeing as he was only told of a secret and had done a great job of keeping it to himself until then, he knew Ruby would be in serious trouble later on. So, with a mental groan at the stupidity of his own plan, Jaune Arc winged it.

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 _He knows._

A few months ago, _hell,_ a few weeks ago, this would've been a major problem for Blake. Absolutely no one, not even her team mates, knew she was a faunus and Blake was damn well happy with it. She was fairly certain she had even duped the teachers, who were none the wiser. Ozpin knew, but the strange Headmaster was a wild card and therefore not worth the trouble worrying over.

"And why would you say that?" _Ruby told him, without a doubt, it was Ruby._ Blake thought, gritting her teeth at Jaune, choosing to be angry at him rather than pent it up later for her Leader. She'd just make some more rage when she needed it. Blake half expected Jaune to literally reel in shock as he let the little 'secret' slip, but was quite surprised when he put on his suave smirk and raised an eyebrow at her.

"You see, it's rather embarrassing." He says.

"By all means, do go on, _friend._ " Blake retorts sharply, emphasizing friend in an ambiguous way, as Adam had taught her oh so long ago. Why bother trying to terrify someone when you can half ass it and just imply violence, the victim's mind would do the rest.

"Well," the blonde says as he looks down at the floor for a moment before looking back up, the suave smirk still there, just with a tint of pink added.

"Well, when one appreciates true beauty so much, and gets the opportunity to admire it closely, one tends to notice certain things. I noticed two things," he winks, "and they happened to be your cute ears. I assume they're cute if they're anything like you."

 _Ohshit,ohshit,ohshit,ohshit,ohshit,ohshit,ohshit!_

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Blake blinked at Jaune, and it was _terrifying._

 _She's going to_ cleave _me into pieces! And EAT ME! Is that racist? No, no, she'd never risk eating me, not with her team mates around. Well, with Ruby around anyways. No, Blake's one of those_ _ **smart**_ _people. Yeah, yeah, she'll probably feed me to a Grimm. Tell them all I died fighting, probably tripped over my own feet. Well, it won't be the worst way to g-_

Jaune never got to finish his internal death memorandum as Blake blinked once more before coughing into her fist, a rather fierce blush on the pale girl's face dreadfully obvious, even with their only source of light being red sticks of possibly volatile dust.

"Well, um…good for you, handsome?" Blake said meekly.

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 _Good for you handsome? What, am I asking myself?!_ The agile girl was honestly dazed at that point. She never expected Jaune of all people to notice her secret, and for him to be so damn smooth about it too! Honestly, Blake tried not dwell on how much it sounded like something the protagonist of her favorite book Ninjas of Love would say. So where did it leave her? The beautiful yet mysterious, morally grey, female. With him, in a cave. Fighting off the even lewder thoughts, she tried to recover.

"Well, I'm sorry to have wasted your time then. We should get moving." She said.

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 _Now I_ _ **really**_ _got to sell it._ Jaune thought to himself, more nervous than ever because of what he planned to do next. As Blake tried to walk past him, he put a hand on her shoulder and grabbed her other hand.

"Hey. I'd never say time spent with you is ever wasted." Jaune said, managing to put a bit of sincerity into his words as his blue eyes locked with her steely eyes, which shrouded every emotion she had.

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 _His eyes are staring into my soul._ Blake mentally groaned, uncomfortable with how her heartrate spiked at his touch.

 _This_ _ **can't**_ _be real. I refuse the dorky, clumsy, introvert, blue onesie wearing Arc is the brave, suave, smooth, hunk of a…._ _ **No!**_ _No, bad Blake! Just…make your feelings known. Leave him knowing the feeling_ _ **isn't**_ _reciprocated._

"Eeep." She managed to squeak out before finding the most interesting piece of moss on the floor….

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 _Wow, I left her speechless. Well...shit._

Frowning at his internal cursing, Jaune let go of Blake's hand and patted her shoulder, before handing her the glow stick.

"Here, for appearance's sake." He said as he began to lightly jog away, trying to catch up with the rest of the group. "Try to keep up kitty!" He shouted over his shoulder.

Blake stared at the Blonde's back for a moment before once more just letting the whole scene sink in and blush even more.

"Jaune you dolt…" The Ninja muttered to herself with a small smile.

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"Contact!" The Professor yelled out happily, his voice booming loudly in the confined tunnel. Port didn't so much as break a sweat as the combined glares of Several Grimm and all of his trainees all glared at him, some with more deadly intent than others, but Ren would never act on it.

"Here we go!" Yang said, yelling out in order to try and pump everyone up a bit. She slammed her fists together before grinning at the Beowolf who was apparently the bravest, or stupidest, considering it was the first of its brothers to lunge at the group of meat bags.

With a quick 1 2 combo, Yang managed to dislocate the Grimm's jaw before sending it flying back to its brothers, a tad bit more dead than it had departed.

"Excellent thinking there!" Port commended Yang as he spun around and hefted his battle-axe upwards into an Ursa's meaty throat.

"I don't get it, what did she do?" Jaune yelled at Pyrrah as he chopped as a Beowolf, slashing its snout and dazing it long enough for Ren to leap forward and slash its chest open.

"Conserving ammo." Pyrrah yelled back as she launched Milo at the thigh of an Ursa Major who had managed to pass her in its attempts to claw the hammer-wielding girl who had taken out several of its brethren with one mighty strike. Jaune spun around and slashed at the exposed nape of the Grimm before turning around once more and stopping a vicious swipe with his shield.

"Oh yeah, because I'm constantly worrying about **that.** " Jaune snorted with a small chuckle as a red blur came to his rescue, killing the Beowolf and the six behind it.

"Remember our talk Jaune; respect the classics." Ruby chastised her Blonde crush with a small smile on her face as she swung Crescent Rose neatly in nearly vertical swings that nearly grazed her shoulders, mowing down whichever creature was unlucky enough to be in front of the young girl.

"Ruby." Was all the black blur that rushed past Jaune said before it dashed past a few of the Grimm and began to spin around a bow of some kind, and Jaune realized that Blake had neatly decapitated nearly 10 feet of Grimm in front of them. Wordlessly, the deadly girl clad in black jumped back as Ruby hopped into the small circle, Grimm already filling it in again. Taking the small space she was given, Ruby placed Crescent Rose on her shoulders and swung hardier with her arms extended, confident now that she could take full advantage of her weapon's length without having to worry about her allies being caught up in the weapon's deadly arcs. Jaune nearly went slack jawed as he saw the redhead literally take out dozen upon dozen of Grimm, all futilely trying to swarm the deadly opponent and overpower her with sheer numbers. It was all for naught, and Jaune's attention was only pulled away from the bloody spectacle when the other redhead in his life also threw herself into the fray.

Where Ruby chopped through multiple Grimm, Pyrrah killed only one with every small twist and turn, and Pyrrah Nikos moved **a lot** in a fight. With quick, jerky movements, he watched as the Mistral Champion shoved Milo past four Grimm, killing one far behind the rest, before shaking Milo left and right twice, pulling it as she did so, all five Grimm hitting the floor with one second between each other.

Jaune decided to join Ren and Yang, who to his surprise had paired together. He realized that Nora and Professor Port were having the time of their lives as the effortlessly held the line and even seemed to be pushing back the Grimm with the steady alternations of their weapons slow swings.

Since they deemed it necessary to conserve ammo, Yang and Nora weren't as efficient as they could've been, and Jaune was left to pick up the slack. Without the aid of the bursts from the gunshots, Yang's fists were only slightly monstrous, only managing to kill the Grimm she was punching, as opposed to the multiple Grimm she could be taking out if she were launching the sturdy bag of bones and muscle forward at their adversaries. Ren was also struggling with the limitation, since he was used to firing off a few bullets and stunning his enemies before leaping in for the kill, and using his aura for larger enemies that couldn't be taken down conventionally. For every three Grimm the duo killed, two slipped by them and charged the Knight in not so shiny armor. Utilizing strategy from a book that Pyrrah had practically forced Jaune to read, he picked up on a lot of one vs one techniques for a sword wielder that weren't versatile enough for the Redheaded Amazonian to bother learning, and Jaune found the entire concept of studying convenient, for once. Slashing at the Ursa's front paw, he forced the creature to spread its leg and lose its balance, before pulling out the sword, lightly letting his grip falter on Crocea Mors so he could reverse his grip, before bluntly shoving the sword straight into the Ursa's eye. Jaune began to feel pretty damn amazed at himself when he realized that he was no longer standing his ground but actually **leaping forward** at his enemies, pushing back the Grimm as was the rest of the teams. After a few more minutes of fighting, Jaune leapt back for a small breather, now that the Grimm had slightly thinned. He finally took in his surroundings and realized that the tunnel had opened up into a large dome, the area spreading out like a plaza. Then he noticed the Deathstalker. Ren did too, when it grabbed him with its large pincer. At least twice the size of the beast they battled at initiation, The Deathstalker demanded the attention of the Hunters and the rest of the Grimm took off, leaving their far more capable brother to handle the pesky humans that had managed to thin their numbers rather alarmingly.

"Ren!" Nora screamed, her voice cracking with fury as she launched herself forward.

"Wait!" Port shouted before dashing off after the girl, raising his axe in front of him and firing round after round into the Deathstalker. The deafening sound of gunfire brought the rest of the group out of their shock and they all opened fire, ammo conservation the last thing on their mind. Jaune began the wild dash towards the beast. He knew that if he thought too much about what he was doing, practically running towards his death, he'd stop dead in his tracks. So, with a mighty war cry, he ran forward, Crocea Mors raised over his head to deliver a devastating strike. Unfortunately, the Deathstalker had a good fifteen feet on Jaune and its stinger towered over him before dashing right for his chest. He wasn't too sure when he felt it. It being Ruby as she slashed at the Stinger, sending it skyward. The appendage was firmly lodged into the ceiling above them all. Jaune was about ready to thank Ruby when he felt her pick him up and then the world turned into a blur. The last thing he heard was the world caving in on itself.

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 **Yes, this is where I will leave you all waiting! A cliff-hanger! Ha-ha! I hope the fight scene was decent enough for you guys. By the way, the large tunnel actually is caving in, if I didn't make it clear enough. I was planning on taking an entire week to write this scene, but now that I've become a mature writer (I finished Halo 3 and Reach) I sat down for several hours and listened to music. Then I panicked and threw this together in an hour. I hope you all enjoy! One of my betas, the Cabbage Man, has had problems with his dear sister, so my heart and hope goes out to him. I hope you guys don't mind the dip in the quality, since you'll be seeing just how much TheCabbageMan helps me. I hope you'll all give him your best regards too.**


	9. Fear Part 3

RWBY Ch. 9 Fear Part 3

Jaune's vision was positively _**awesome.**_ There were stars and splotches everywhere. The world slowly faded away and then reappeared, and after a while of pondering the phenomena, he realized he was _**blinking.**_ Then, feelings returned. They were oh so warm and fuzzy. Jaune almost giggle in childish delight, until they stopped being fuzzy and suddenly got very warm. Then it began to get _**painful.**_ Jaune groaned in pain, and only then did he realize the ringing in his hears was slowly fading away.

"Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh."

"Wow, didn't realize my voice was _**that**_ high pitched." Jaune muttered to himself, surprised he was moaning in such apparent agony, seeing as his body was only in moderate hell. Then it hit him. He wasn't the one moaning.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Jaune said, quickly getting off the hard floor and dashing over to his fellow team leader.

"Hey, what are you worrying about?" Ruby said meekly before she flinched in pain as she tried to lift herself off the wall she had her back to. With a clammy face, she accepted Jaune's outstretched arms and he lightly set her back down against the wall, careful not to jostle her leg.

"Ruby, are you alright?!" Jaune cried out, trying to keep his voice steady and failing miserably.

"Ye-yeah, it's fine. I just…it hurts a lot." Ruby said, scrunching up her face as she couldn't stop herself from peaking at her mangled leg. A gash nearly down to the bone had been present merely a few minutes ago, and her aura had been fast at work healing the wound. She could do nothing but watch as her body forcibly used nearly all of Ruby's aura to fix the fatal wound down to a bad wound. It was so severe that Ruby doubted she could've diverted her aura anywhere else even if she had wanted to.

"Ruby… I…you…you saved me didn't you?" Jaune said, his face blanching as he realized that Ruby had picked him up while using her semblance.

"Of…course I did." The redhead said, gasping a bit in pain.

"W-why?" Jaune asked, looking down at Ruby's leg. He knew that if she wasn't such a prodigy her leg would've been beyond saving, hospital or not. Now though, it seemed like the leg would be okay with a lot of recovery, and immediate care. Because that was readily available….

"Because you were in danger silly." Ruby said, managing a small grin as she said the sentence with total nonchalance.

"I…don't know what to say." Jaune said, disappointed with himself for putting himself and therefore Ruby in such a compromising situation.

"How about, "Well now I'll sweep you off your feet Ruby and then I'll get us to our friends and save the day." Ruby said in a gruff, deep voice. Jaune could only give Ruby a lopsided smile as he realized that she had the right idea, now wasn't the time to panic, and that he had to get his act together. With a deep sigh, Jaune dusted off his clothes and sheathed Crocea Mors into his shield, only then realizing that he had a grip so tight his knuckles had gone white.

"Should've worn more white." He muttered aloud as he put on a brave face for Ruby before grabbing her beneath the arms and lifting her up all the way into the air, to which she only gave an indignant "eep!" to.

"I looked around while you were out. From what I could see, we're cut off from everybody. The way we came is blocked off." Ruby said, her tone clipped. Jaune frowned at his words and his brow furrowed as he thought of the implications. Ruby noticed the unusual look of concentration on Jaune's face and decided it'd be best to let him think.

"I know Nora might be able to dig her way through the rubble, and maybe even Port. Yang could too. Everyone is potentially trapped though. That's if anyone is even together." Jaune's line of thought was interrupted when his mind, only a second ahead of his mouth, came upon the morbid question. He flinched when Ruby said the question he had tried to avoid.

"That is if any of them weren't killed in the cave in." The Scythe-wielder said, voice monotone.

"No, of course they weren't. Come on Ruby, if a Grimm can't take any of us down, what're the chances a stupid rock will? I _**know**_ everyone's going to be fine." Jaune said with a stern frown on his face as he held Ruby out in front of him like one would a baby. The intensity in his blue eyes managed to unnerve Ruby's with their unwavering sincerity.

"Of course, you're right." Ruby said, looking down over her shoulder in shame of her hypocrisy, already accepting defeat when defeat was unacceptable.

"Damn right. Now, let's go find them. And chin up, you're with your best friend right? Try to be a bit more chipper." The Arc said with amusement in his eyes as he put Ruby down off to his side, letting the girl heavily lean on his shoulder, favoring her left foot.

"Yeah, chipper." The red head said, only now noting that the light their Dust Sticks where giving off was an eerie blood red.

"So…where do we go?" Ruby asked, realizing that they had yet to decide on a direction.

"The only way we can, forward. I don't know how we'll find the others, but we will." Jaune said, making sure to keep the uncertainty out of his voice as he stuffed his Dust stick to the front of his armor. Snaking an arm around Ruby's waist, he made sure she was as comfortable as possible before giving her his most suave smirk. Looking forward with determination in her eyes, Ruby didn't see Jaune's smirk shift into a hard frown, concern and anxiety all flashing across his face as his mind whirred with concern about Ren, the rest of Team JNPR, Team RWBY. And more than anything, his mind was cracking with pressure and his heart felt squeezed with every _**almost**_ inaudible gasp and squeak Ruby let out with every hobbled step.

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 **So, I kinda hit a wall with how exactly Jaune and Ruby would fine everybody else when I realized that, if I'm going for realism here, they probably wouldn't. The only tunnel they were in caved in and it's not exactly going to turn out like a convenient RPG, with everyone meeting up in some grand chamber to take on a boss. As much as I wanted to do that. More of everybody else next chapter! Cabbage Man's sister's life is no longer at risk, so God Bless or whatever you the reader believe in if anything, and I'll still wish him the best of luck. We're** _ **ALMOST**_ **at** _ **100 FOLLOWERS GUYS!**_ **My first major stepping stone! This story is going to be going places, and I promise to make sure and finish it so one day you all will be able to look back and be glad you got to see this thing through to the end from the beginning, struggling through the long update gaps alongside with me.**


	10. Flames Extinguished

Fear Part 4- Extinguished

Ember Celica rocketed forward, piercing through the Beowolf's chest. Yang only grunted as she used her other hand to push the disintegrating corpse off her hand. The usually overly-violent ginger of Team JNPR watched on in grim understanding.

Usually an advocator of violence herself, Grimm and humans alike, even Nora was unnerved by the pure fury that Yang was relieving with the help of the Grimm. She **_almost felt_** sorry for them. Key word being almost, since her boop was in the large claws of the accursed Grimm last she saw him.

She was more than content to sit back and let Yang work out her frustration with the few Grimm that were unfortunate enough to not be killed by the falling debris and ended up trapped with the girls. That was until Yang finished off the last Beowolf, beheading it in a particularly vicious punch that she had thrown her all into

. Afterwards, with lilac eyes burning a fierce red, she walked over to the wall of rubble that had blocked their way forward, their way to the rest of their team mates, and began to pound into it, turning the smaller rocks into fine dust and shifting the larger stones.

With tears stinging her eyes, the Valkyrie walked up to the burning mane that was Yang's hair and wrapped her arms around the blonde's waist. With a sob, Nora grabbed Yang's arms and pulled them away, the shaking of the tunnel that threatened to cave in on them stopping only when Yang's fists did. Using all of her strength, tears stained the face of the most optimistic girl amongst all of Team RWBY and JNPR as she dragged away a sobbing Yang who was doing her damndest to go rescue her little sister. The ginger didn't even feel the impact when her back slammed into the metal door that marked the entrance they had come in mere hours ago. The shriek of the rusty metal almost compared to Yang's. With one final, ear-wrenching scream from the grieving blonde, Team JNPR and RWBY passed through the doors, missing 5 members instead of the 1.

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 **Yep, short, morbid, leaves a bad taste in the mouth, these will be the next few chapters right here. In less disturbing news…**

 **We did it everybody! We hit one hundred followers! Special shout out to the special one hundredth , Richard Fern the Dragonmaster! And to everybody who helped me get here. To Moony, to Cabbageman, to the very first follower who saw this story and decided he or she might as well and see if it ever went anywhere, and the 2** **nd** **person, and the 3** **rd** **, until a decent amount of people started to follow, and the other 96 of you! Thank you all so much, you have no idea how stoked I am about this!**


	11. Goodbye Youth

**Goodbye To the Innocence of the Youth**

"This…my God…" Port mumbled to himself. Concern, anxiety, and soul-crushing quilt were all present of Port's face as he fought of dozens of Grimm on his own. Swinging his battle-axe upwards, he tore through a Beowolf and fired it off near the top of it's arc, swinging it over his head and horizontally bisected an Ursa's head. He chose to focus on the snarling beasts in front of him, lest he take a look at the sobbing Redhead kneeling behind him and break down then and there like she did.

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 _Jaune…he's…gone…Dead. This…can't…_

The Amazonian girl didn't even register Port's words. One minute, she's staring at the tears on the floor, the next the world's spinning. On some level, she knew that Port was dragging her away. To where, she couldn't find herself to care. As she the flashes of white and red teeth of the Grimm after them, she couldn't help but consider having Port just dropping her. There wasn't any reason to fight…not anymore. Jaune was dead. Ren was in a DeathStalker's grip that she saw get crushed before her vision was obscured by rubble. Nora was closer to the Deathstalker than most...

 _Why? Why did you take them from me?_ The broken girl asked no one in particular.

 _Why did it have to be him?_ A particularly big Beowolf leaped forward, slashing at the exposed Professor's back. Pyrrah's head slammed against the hard floor as Port screamed out in pain and stumbled. That was the moment Pyrrah Nikos, the humble, modest, Champion of the people broke. With everything taken from her, she turned to those who took it all. **The Grimm.** Responsible for countless of atrocities against humanity, it was only then that the Nikos learned to truly **hate** that which she had been trained to destroy. Without a word, she rose, transforming Milo into a sword, she wanted to see their eyes when she took their lives. She sprinted forward, driving her sword through a Beowolf's chest, and the one behind that one too. Ripping it out, she bashed away an Ursa Major's paw before slashing at it's thick neck. Only getting half way through, she let out a roar as she pulled back and slashed again and again, finally decapitating the Ursa on her fifth swing. With fire in her eyes, she turned around to see a stray Beowolf going for the downed Port. Throwing her shield, she watched it's head burst open, the Grimm's black ichor staining her hands as she used her semblance to pull her shield back to her. It was only then that Port managed to turn himself over and see the slaughter Pyrrah was reaping. Seeing Pyrrah at her best, defeating countless Grimm with uncanny efficiency, eyes dead, was what finally caused a tremor to go through Port's heart.

"God forgive me." He mumbled as watched the shadows dance on the wall, the red light from Pyrrah's dust stick being obscured by Grimm. He felt as if the darkness itself was reveling in elation as the girl's innocence died off a little more with every swing of Milo.

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So, season 3! Anyone else see it yet? Just watched in on my phone personally, totally stoked at all new dialogue Team JNPR seems to be going to have in this season. What did you guys think of Pyrrah's breakdown? Believable? Can someone who's been trained to handle defeat despite having been perfect their whole lives snap so easily? Drop a review or pm me, I love talking to my fellow fans! **


	12. Shadows Persevere

**Shadows Persevere**

"We have to hurry!" The boy cried out, fear and anxiety lacing his words. With an uncharacteristic show of urgency, he lunged forward and tucked Stormflower into his sleeves, choosing to strike the Ursa Major on its nose. Aura surging forward into his palms, Ren watched the small shockwave as the creature's head exploded.

"Ren, I told you!" Blake shouted out, her frustration at the entire situation being vented at the magenta-eyed boy.

"You haven't told me anything! All you say is that everyone will be fine. You don't know that!" Ren said his voice cracking as he pulled out Stormflower and blew away a Beowolf with a hail of bullets.

"I _**know**_ everyone was fi-…" Blake was saying before a Beowolf's claw went right through her chest. Ren didn't so much as blink an eye.

"…ne." Blake finished, now behind the Beowolf. With a quick thrust of her wrist, she cut out the back of one of the beast's legs, causing it to drop down, where it met its untimely faith at the end of Gambol Shroud. '

"How could you _**possibly**_ be so sure?" Ren asked her, losing all his composure as he realized Blake had slain the last of the Grimm.

"I saw everyone was fine, none of them were getting crushed, I swear it." Blake said, her tone firm, wanting to convey to Ren that he had nothing to worry about.

"How? It was so dark… I never even got to tell her…" Ren said, looking away at the floor, until he realized that Blake wasn't wearing a Dust stick. _How could she…_ Realization shined in Ren's eyes as his head suddenly swerved to look deeply into Blake's eyes.

Blake had to stop herself from flinching when Ren's eyes hardened. The young man got up and walked straight up to her, never breaking eye contact. Stopping with only inches between them, Ren glared at Blake.

"You're a faunus?" He said, his tone clipped.

"Yes." Blake said slowly, fingering Gambol Shroud. She never would've expected Lie Ren of all people to be a faunus hater, but she knew well enough to have known better and judge a book by its cover.

That's why she was so surprised when Ren threw his arms over her.

"So then they're alright. _**She's**_ alright." Ren said, holding back a sob as he buried his face into Blake's neck, pulling her into first hug he had had in years."

Blake awkwardly patted the back of the usually stoic boy, a tad bit touched to see that such a quiet person really did care for his friends deeply. Then she realized she was the same. With a small smile, she lightly pushed Ren off of her.

"They _**were**_ fine, but that doesn't mean they won't manage to get themselves in danger without us to watch over them. So we should get going. I thought I saw your boop over in that direction." Blake said, smiling lightly as she heard the distinctive sound of Port's battle-axe, the sound of rubble shifting nearby.

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 **Yay, faunus night vision to the rescue! So, Blake and Ren will shortly reunite with Port and Pyrrah. From then on, well, I think it's rather obvious. Where are Ruby and Jaune? Even more importantly, how did Zwei fit in that tube in the first place! All this and more will be answered in the next chapter, An Arc's Arc Part 1! Thanks so much for the reviews guys, they're really appreciated! With any luck, we may hit 50 reviews one day!**


	13. Balance Shatters

**Balance Shattered**

Jaune's heart thumped erratically. With a heavy sigh, the Arc placed his leg on the Beowolf's chest and pushed it forward with his feet, Crocea Mors sliding out with a sick squelch. He turned around to see Ruby give him a thumbs up, a weak smile plastering her face as she leaned heavily onto Crescent Rose, which she had impaled into the ground quite a ways back. He tried to return the gesture, but could only manage to make a neutral face, his lips forming a thin line as his brows furrowed. He walked over to Ruby when he saw her poor attempt at hobbling over. Reaching her, he helped her sit down on the floor before plopping down next to her with a loud "oomph." Looking away from his only companion, Jaune allowed himself a rare frown as he noticed his red Dust stick dim to the point it wasn't illuminating enough for Jaune to see the rest of his arm. He tossed the thing and took off his backpack, which was becoming lighter and lighter, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by the blonde. Reaching inside, he pulled out another Dust stick, and started to snap the thing. He let out a grunt of annoyance when he saw that his hands wouldn't stop shaking. Gritting his teeth, Jaune tried to overcome the burning sensation that seemed to be in every muscle of his arm. It wasn't until the softest of touches brushed his arm and enveloped his fist, steadying his hand.

"Ruby…" Jaune muttered, looking down at the floor in shame for having shown weakness in front of the very person he had to be strong for.

"Vomit Boy." She responded after a moment of silence, trailing a finger along his cheek to get his attention. He looked at her, not willing to look her in the eyes yet finding that he couldn't rip his gaze away from the silver orbs that seemed too large and innocent.

"We're going to have to get a move on if we're going to get back to Beacon in time to eat pancakes with the Queen of the Castle." She said in a sing song voice, her tone weak. Jaune could only look at Ruby, his mind drawing a blank as how to respond. So, he decided not to, and merely smiled at her. It was small, it reeked of exhaustion, but it was genuine.

"Then let's get going." The Knight said, ignoring the urge to grunt as his weak knees felt gravity fight him every inch of the way up. With a forcibly firm hand, Ruby let Jaune pull her up before she began to use the high impact sniper rifle scythe, that was also a gun, as a crutch. They didn't even walk for ten minutes before they came upon a wall. There was a large crevice, a few feet thick, that seemed to continue like a trail. Jaune and Ruby stopped in front of it, staring at the ominous darkness.

"That looks safe." The blonde deadpanned. The redhead only grunted at him before trying to climb into the crack.

"Ruby!" He yelled at her, flinching when his voice echoed.

"What a dolt." Ruby taunted Jaune once she gave up on climbing up into the crack, so she decided to focus on Jaune, and gave him a glare she felt Weiss would've approved of before sticking her tongue out at him and winked.

"What're you doing?" Jaune asked as he stepped closer.

"We have to keep going. This looks like our only way." Ruby responded as she motioned for Jaune to give her a boost.

"There's no way we're going into the creepy hole in the wall." The Arc said firmly, putting his hands on his hip in defiance.

"Do you see any other way forward?" Ruby said, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"I…don't." He said, slumping his shoulders.

"Alrighty then, let's get going."

"Fine. But you're not going first." Jaune said, leaving his back to Ruby as he climbed up into the crack, not leaving her the chance to argue. He immediately noticed it thinned out almost immediately and he'd need to turn sideways and shimmy along if he wanted to get by.

"Ruby. Take care of this." He whispered loudly before dropping his backpack and hearing an eep, and he tried not to chuckle as he heard grumbling. He started to shimmy along the crevice, when he noticed the moss along the wall he was nose to nose with had started to die out. All the vegetation beyond that point was dried and long dead. Raising an eyebrow, Jaune looked at the opening along the rock that forked off to the side.

"Noop." He said to himself, shaking his head, and he made to pass the opening before his vision deemed , and he fell sideways, Crocea Mors stopping his fall.

"Oh, thank God, that was close." Jaune said, his body hanging limply as the sword stopped gravity from sending him down the steep slope. Grabbing the rocky wall with both hands, Jaune made to start shuffling himself back up when the hair on his neck stood up. With a shiver, Jaune went stiff, and a moment later, he heard the distinctive sound of Crocea Mors being unclipped.

He didn't even scream on the way down.

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It hissed at the thing.

It's claws scraped the sword, and it's palm burned when it tried to pick it up a second time. Baring it's fangs, it slapped the sword away, down the hole it's food went into.

It slammed it's hands on the floor, upset that now the food _**and**_ the thing were out of his reach. He could go down after it, but he instinctively knew it would mean his death.

With one final, loud screech, it scampered off in search of more food.

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Jaune groaned as his head bounced an inch off the floor, his aura protecting him from what would've surely been a concussion. Still hurt like hell though.

"Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn." Our blonde hero groaned as pushed himself up to his knees. He moved his hand to feel a smooth rock, which he used to push himself up. Looking down at the rock which he held comfortably in his hands thanks to two neat holes, he screamed as he quickly dropped the skull. Paling, Jaune noticed the two small nubs on the top which he immediately identified as horns.

He placed a hand on a wall and started to walk along it in hopes of finding an exit, the light of his Dust stick showed more and more skeletons scattered haphazardly. Jaune tried his hardest to ignore the significantly smaller sets. His brow furrowed as he closed his eyes, unwilling to look at the horrors of the room anymore and to pay his respects. They shot open when he heard the distinct clash of metal on metal. He took off in the direction, his worry and anxiety immediately making him imagine Ruby in some sort of danger, and ignoring the fact that she had no one to fight that could brandish a weapon. Jaune saw a darker section of the room and dashed towards it, realizing it went into another chamber. His gaze immediately went to the two shining men in the center of the room, rushing one another.

The blonde looked on, his mind refusing to process the sight before him.

A skeleton of pure black stood a bit before him, blue flames replacing what would've been eyes crackled in the hollow sockets. Rags adorned it's body randomly, a patch of a sleeve on it's arm, rusted chainmail over half of it's torso, and the remnants of greaves on it's legs. It held a rusted sword that managed to look like it would snap at any moments and yet still looked like it could rip through flesh and bone like butter. The Black Warrior charged forward, out of Jaune's vision. It quickly returned, and with a visitor

He stood confidently at a strong 6'8. Wearing the whitest set of armor Jaune had ever seen, the helmet man wielded a sword as black as the unholy abomination Jaune had noticed first. White slashed at black, look to separate its torso from its legs. Black leaned back slightly, barely managing to avoid the blade and look like that's how he planned it all the while as he slipped closer to White, thrusting his smaller sword forward, using the unwieldy nature of Black's weapon in extremely close quarters to his advantage. It was not meant to be apparently, as White quickly used the hilt of it's weapon to shove aside the blade, leaving Black's defense open. White once again took the offensive and swung his sword over his shoulder, looking to neatly cleave into Black's shoulder. As Black barely side stepped the attack and tried to take off White's arm, which White blocked with an armored elbow, Jaune realized that the two master combatants were equally matched. He looked on in amazement as the duo continued their attacks with fervor that looked to be infinite, and that's when a shiver went up the Knight's spine as he wondered just how long this battle had been held for.

Jaune slowly moved closer, getting behind a protruding rock in order to observe the fight better, as the two combatants seemed to dance across the room, never stopping in their deadly dance. Then Black leapt back from an attack, walking backwards as he was once more put on the defensive , and came closer and closer to Jaune's little hiding spot. Jaune saw this and tried to quietly back away, but he stumbled over a skeleton and landed loudly on the floor. Next to a black bone that looked awfully like a foot. Jaune didn't even gasp when he looked up.

Black's smooth skull looked down upon Jaune. The blue flames giving away nothing, though it's open jaw which almost looked comical would've conveyed shock. Whether this was due to Jaune's sudden appearance or it's sword being swatted out of his hands was up for debate.

Taking advantage of the sudden factor, White thrust his sword through Black's open ribcage. Jaune pondered what the squelch like sound was when the sword reached the place where it would've met flesh. With a cry, the very air around Black seemed to warp inwards, a vortex of sorts seeming to appear inside it's ribs where the sword was still lodged. With a final loud shriek, Black fell apart as the vortex disappeared and whatever force held it together disappeared, it's bone falling to the floor, with the skull landing in front of Jaune, the blue flames slowly dimming away in front of his very eyes. Jaune lied there in the floor, not moving until he remembered he wasn't alone. With a scream justifiably a bit too high pitched for a man, Jaune threw himself up. He took one look at the helmet white figure and took off running, not caring which direction he took. It was a glint of white that caught his attention, and Jaune realized it was Crocea Mors. Running up to it, his mind raced as he realized that he had found the steep slope of a hill he had fallen down from. He ran up the slope, his hands desperately pulling at the sleek rock, hoping for a ledge or a nook of any kind to grab onto. His heart sunk as he slid down. His stomach followed when he heard a heavy thunk. And then another. And another.

 _Footsteps._ He thought, managing to say the word mentally in a tone that reeked of horror.

With all the determination in the world, Jaune backed up, and took off into another sprint at the slope. His fingers scanned over the floor as he nearly reached the peak.

He lost all momentum.

His eyes widened in dread.

His fingers clasped onto a sharp edge.

His palm bled as his hand gripped onto salvation.

Jaune smiled despite the pain as he stood absolutely still, having reached the moment he would've fallen if he hadn't grabbed the rock. His throat clenched as he heard a very loud thunk. Despite all of his instincts telling him not to, Jaune turned his head, and saw White standing at the bottom of the slope.

The rock snapped with a thud, crumbling away as it fell alongside him.

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Jaune groaned as he…didn't hit his head.

Opening his eye, the Knight saw that White had caught him by the waist, effortlessly with one hand. Before he could so much as blink, White put him down on his feet.

He didn't know what to think, his mind still numb from the sheer terror he had moments ago. He only watched on as White literally looked down at him, before grabbing his arm. Letting out a shriek, Jaune struggled as White's thick fingers squirmed down his arm, before reaching his wrists. Jaune fought for his life as he assumed that his fighting arm was about to be snapped. When the fingers skimmed over the open cut of his palm, he reached for Crocea Mors, and realized that he had never clipped it on, and had dropped it again. He closed his eyes, not wanting to look death in the face. Then a blinding light forced him to try and close his eyes even more. Then it stopped, and he felt the arm let go of him.

He opened his eyes wearily to see White standing in front of him. Looking down at his hand, Jaune realized that the cut was gone. While his aura would've healed the deep cut eventually, Jaune knew it would've taken more than a minute.

"You…healed it?" Jaune asked skeptically, eyes still glued to his hand.

When he received no response, he looked up to see White holding out something. Realizing that it was the black sword he had seen it use, Jaune made a face as he looked at the sword. It was simple: All black, sleek, practically a generic sword.

"Nooo thanks." Jaune replied quickly, still wary of the strange entity. When it shook it's head at him, he realized that he was better off not arguing with the creature.

"Ok. THAN-…" Jaune started to say as he took the sword before White picked him up and lifted him up to the slope, close enough to the top that Jaune could pull himself up.

"Oh! Uh, thank you!" Jaune called out, starting to reach for the ledge before he realized that he something was wrong.

"Could you hand me Crocea Mors, er, my sword?" Jaune asked. White's helmet stared at him wordlessly for a moment before it leaned down a bit with Jaune still in it's arm before it grabbed the second sword and handed it to him. Jaune climbed up to the entrance of the slope and looked back at White, his expression still confused and a bit of afraid as it just stood there. Then, it nodded at him.

It's armor fell to the floor, and nothing remained. Jaune looked on in shock, not sure how to react, before fingering the strange sword he was given just to make sure he hadn't imagined it all in a concussion-induced hallucination. Sheathing Crocea Mors, he began to shimmy over to where he had left Ruby with the sword in hand, realizing he had left her alone for the entire time.

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Back in the chamber, White slowly walked over to the center. It's left hand was sizzling from the contact with the damned blade the Arc had demanded. It brought up it's right hand, still moist with the humans blood, before running it's tongue across the palm. Picking up Black's skull, it crushed it in it's hand, all the while smiling as he felt a small piece of himself slowly shimmying along to the other human. With a grin, White looked at the remains of it's victims that had watched it's grueling battle take place for decades, the rest having fallen long before their final comrade did, all the thanks to the Arc. With a grin, it whisked away like dust.

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 **Ohhhhhhhhh…..You guys thought that just because he was White that he represented good didn't you? What has our blonde knight come across? It can't be that bad, seeing as they're only in a tomb full of innocent people who were massacred…. So, yeah. Expect the next few chapters to be Jaune And Ruby heavy, what did you guys think? Leave a review! Drop me a pm! Special shoutouts to Ursarang, Spartan Ninja, Garoora, and Momijifan Low-ki. A super special shoutout to Lightning Havoc and his story "Journey: Path to Hero"! It's an amazing story that I personally love. In it, Jaune actually develops feelings slowly and normally, like normal people used to do! The romance is very drawn out, although you're rewarded with small victories to keep your hopes up, and Havoc does action amazingly. Honestly, he does an amazing fucking job, and there's plenty of action in Journey: Path To Hero! Havoc practically creates an entire new world that coincides completely with Cannon, and the two could coincide completely. He also does an amazing job portraying the character's feelings, and he actually makes their actions justified! Whereas other authors have characters making sudden changes of hearts and completely contradictory actions on a dime. If you're looking for a good read where we can cheer our hero Jaune Arc on as he proves himself to the world, then I totally recommend you give this story a read and maybe drop a review to encourage the guy. If you like my story at all, then you'll fall in love with his, which is actually quite a bit longer than mine! You can find it right here on ff. net!**


	14. The Light Burns Bright

**Hey guys! So, yeah! An author's note at the beginning. Weird, I know. But this is important. In this chapter, Jaune's abilities will be talked about, and they'll be purposefully vague. If you can't handle not knowing right away, I'll have a rundown of his abilities and their setbacks at the bottom of the author's note at the end. It'll be Underlined, so you can skip it if you want.**

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"I'll show him…throwing things at me…I'll throw a freakin' paper plane at him. At 55 mi- err kilometers an hour. Yeah, that'll show him." Ruby grumbled to herself, kicking a stray pebble with her good foot. On Ruby's part, she only squeaked _**slightly**_ when Jaune dropped down from the ledge with the crack.

"Ruby! Areyoualright, I'msorryIwasgoneforsolong,I didn'tplanonbeinggonesolong,butsomethingpushedmeandthentherewereskeletons and …" The blonde screamed, running up to her and throwing her into a bear hug before pulling back and inspecting her, his words coming in a rush. (Here's what Jaune said, "I'm sorry I was gone for so long, I didn't plan on being gone so long, but something pushed me and then there were skeletons and …")

"Jaune, Jaune, what're you saying…" Ruby said, cutting the Knight off before she too stopped, her hands that she had put on Jaune's shoulders clenching as they pulled him in closer, with Jaune's face next to Ruby's ear and vice versa.

"R-ruby?" Jaune sputtered out, his face a bit red, the glow from his Dust stick yet again proving itself helpful as it did a wonderful job of covering it up. Until Ruby whispered into his ear.

"Jaune…" She trailed slowly, her words tickling his ear and making the weirdest feeling shoot through him. "Don't make any sudden movements, but there's a-…" The redhead was interrupted by a snarl. Throwing herself sideways with the Arc in her arms, Ruby saw stars as she let out a scream as loud as the giant Beowolf's snarl. Spots clouded her vision, but Ruby could see…Jaune. He was mouthing something.

 _Why aren't you talking?_ She thought to herself, and her answer came in the form of ringing. Lifting a weak arm to the right side of her head, she touched her ear and felt something sticky. Bringing back in front of her eyes, her eyes widened at the black liquid, knowing that if the lighting had been any better, the unmistakable red tinge of blood would be on her fingers.

Her eyelids drooped; the darkness around the edges of her vision seemed to get darker. She watched Jaune turn around and put himself between her and the Beowolf, even moving towards the gargantuan beast as to keep as much distance between them as possible. With his back to her, Ruby had to imagine the valiant look on her Knight's face, and despite the grim situation, giggled at the strange image of a fierce-looking Jaune. Her frown returned full force when the Beast lunged at Jaune.

With agility gained exclusively through brutal sparring matches with a certain Amazonian, Jaune dodged the large claw by kneeling, feeling a whoosh of air batter his hair as the huge limb passed through the air his head was mere moments ago.

With a grimace, Jaune swung Crocea Mors at seemingly thin and frail knee of the Beast only to watch it bounce of the thin white armor, and bashed his shield into the Beast's throat. Leaping back, he silently panicked as he saw the Beast shake off the blow in less than a second, barely enough of a window to allow his some breathing room.

Raising his shield arm instinctively, Jaune began to analyze the Beast, trying to calm himself in the heat of battle like Pyrrah had always taught him to.

 _Ok, it's just a Beowolf. A really, really big Beowolf. Arguably the easiest of Grimm to kill. Weak points: The Knees…_

Jaune rolled his eyes, and started to pace along stride with the Beowolf, growing unnerved as he saw the Beast's red eyes occasionally glance at Ruby's limp form still on the ground.

 _Right. Ok, the neck, the back of the neck, and…and…_ Jaune mentally stuttered as he observed the thicker armor around all the weak points he had just mentally listed. Losing himself to deep thought, he stumbled slightly over his own feet, lurching forward, easily fixable with a half step, which Jaune did. Too bad it was just enough.

Lunging at him with what might as well have been lightning speed, The Beast swung both it's claws in an X-like manner, aiming to eviscerate Jaune into neat stacks of meat. With no other option, Jaune raised his shield arm high, cutting off his line of sight with the Beast, realizing that the massive thing actually had to swing it's arms downwards to strike him.

Even with the spike of his aura to guard himself, Jaune swore he felt his arm broke into pieces as his shield was swatted away, his arm nearly following.

 _Damn!_ Was all Jaune could manage as he watched his collapsible shield fly into the distance. With only Crocea Mors left, he flipped the sword in his hand before putting both hands on the hilt, adjusting his stance a bit.

"Come at me then!" Jaune yelled, grateful Pyrrah had saw it fit to have him train with and without some of his weapons.

Ruby, still barely conscious, managed to raise an eyebrow at the admittedly awesome scene, Jaune having yelled a badass line, the Huge Grimm looking down upon him, the red Dust stick making awesome mood lighting.

"Like the story books…" Ruby managed with a tug of a smirk on her lips before gravity won the battle against her droopy eyelids, and she descended into oblivion.

She wasn't awake to watch the Beast once more lunge at Jaune, this time only swinging it's right hand at him. Backpedaling, Jaune swung down on it's outstretched hand, noting with pride that it was the only thing he'd seen on the Beast that wasn't armored.

Though it was only a shallow cut, the Beast let out a snarl, feeling pain for the first time in decades. Without missing a beat, it rocketed the claw back towards Jaune, akin to a backhand. Managing the closest thing to a smile It could, it's red eyes followed the sword clatter to the floor uselessly, the bothersome human no longer a threat.

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Jaune trembled, and he took a step back out of pure terror. Landing sharply on his butt, the ring of metal striking the hard floor brought him out of his stupor. With shaky hands, he quickly unlatched the strange sword he had received from that…thing. Holding it with only his sword arm, it felt far too heavy and unwieldy, as if the thing was weighted. Definitely not for Jaune. Despite that thought, something about it felt…oddly familiar. Ignoring the strange effect the two emotions had on him, Jaune warily took on the two handed grip once more, gripping it even harder so as to make sure he wouldn't get a repeat of what had happened moments ago.

The Beast looked down, confused as the human made as if it was holding a weapon, but It saw nothing. Intent on slicing down the boy, the Beast threw it's arm over it's head, brining it's claw straight down on Jaune's head.

Holding the sword sideways, Jaune blocked the strike, bracing his arms for yet another brutal onslaught. That's why he was caught so off guard as the Beast's force seemed to stop completely less than a second of contact with his sword, and quickly whipping it up, he watched on in amazement as the sword sliced through the armor on the forearm with barely any resistance.

The Beast roared in pure agony as the limb fell to the floor, black ichor pooling around it.

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"Yeah!" Jaune shouted, his blood rushing as the adrenaline of the fear he had experienced along with the burst of confidence after having **finally** harming the gargantuan rushed through him.

Readying his stance in order to leap forward, The Beast almost seemed to cradle the bleeding stump on it's right arm before it let out another ear curdling screech and retreated. Jaune was ready to give chase and end the fight before he stopped dead in his tracks, debating whether or not to leave Ruby behind, however shortly.

He got his answer when the Beast literally slammed through a wall, ramming it with it's shoulder. With an altogether different howl that almost made the Beast sound capable of communication, it rushed forward into the darkness. Far too many to count red eyes soon lit up the darkness in the hole.

Rushing over to Ruby, Jaune grew worried when he saw she was unconscious, though her steadily rising chest ebbed away a bit of the fear. Stepping over her, Jaune narrowed his eyes as the Grimm slowly leaked out of the new entrance, and began to circle him. With a roar, an Ursa Major dashed towards him, and Jaune retaliated, letting out his own war cry, pushing all his thoughts to the back of his mind. He didn't even stop to consider that the pulsing coming from the sword became stronger with every beast slain.

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Yang's eyes burned crimson.

She reached forward, yanking Junior's collar down so she could stare into the man's soul.

"For the love of Christ, I told you blondie. They. **Didn't.** Find. A. Thing." Junior said, gritting his teeth in barely restrained anger.

Yang only grunted in response, half hoping Junior would give her a reason to pummel him, only to be pulled back from her bloodlust fueled daydream by the feeling of a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Yang…we're done here." Weiss said, her icy blue eyes the only ones in the entire club that had the gall to stare down a pissed off Yang, Junior excluded.

"Don't start with me Ice-Queen." Yang said, the air around her quickly heating up to temperatures that had Junior pulling at his collar as he tried to back away from the blonde bombshell that had been harassing him for the last week.

"Yang, this isn't going to bring Ruby back. We could be out there doing something else and actually getting results. Don't you care?" Weiss whispered harshly in Yang's ear, somehow managing to withstand the intense heat.

Lilac eyes stared back at Weiss, the fiery compassion that had been present replaced with sorrow.

"O…ok. Let's go." Yang said, shoving past Weiss, hoping the Schnee wouldn't hear the dead tiredness in her voice.

"Not tonight. You're done tonight Yang. _**We're**_ done." Weiss said, lightly hooking her arm around the blonde, knowing by the way her shoulders sagged that she was in no condition to shrug her off.

"Damn." Yang cursed under her breath, a little too loudly.

"…I'm worried too Yang. But we _**will**_ find her. There's no doubt. Come on, I'm driving us back to Beacon. Give me the keys to Bumblebee." Weiss said, her voice growing in determination as she went on.

Yang only snorted in amusement, still managing to be impressed at the thought of Weiss thinking she could _**ever**_ drive __Bumblebee. Patting her back pocket, Yang shook her head no. Then she realized she hadn't felt the familiar lump that she, plenty of guys, and that one drunken girl, usually felt on Yang's rear. Despite the lilac eyes, Yang still glared venomously at the Schnee heiress' back as she walked towards the exit of the club.

"Come on Yang." Was all Weiss said.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Blake narrowed her eyes at the blonde.

"Ms. Belladona." Glynda Goodwitch said with a firm tone, surprised the student had the gall to glare at her.

"You're giving up on them." The bow-wearing girl said, her legs crossed and her arms crossed in defiance.

"We are doing no such thing." A loud voice called out from beside Glynda, and Ozpin uncharacteristically glared at both of the huntresses.

Blake found that she couldn't quite manage to glare at the Headmaster, and bowed her head in defeat, staring at her own legs.

"We will continue to send out teams routinely to find them. We just…have more important matters at the moment." Ozpin said with a flinch, and even Goodwitch seemed to frown at his words.

"More important that Ruby and Jaune?!" Blake yelled at him, his words having given her the rage necessary to overlook the fact that her whole life could be derailed by the man sitting in front of her.

"…Yes. While this in no way diminishes the importance of finding those two, it _**is more pressing**_." Ozpin said after a moment in which he grinded his teeth.

Blake could only lock eyes with Ozpin, her eyes alone almost challenging him to find something more important.

Ozpin stared right back; steely determination that would make even Ironwood's conviction seem wavering was the only thing Blake could read from his gaze.

She left wordlessly.

"She doesn't know Ozpin. Finding _**her**_ is more important." Glynda said with a surprisingly soft tone, putting a hand on the weary Headmaster's shoulder as his forehead met his desk. Before he could respond, loud knocking reverberated around the room.

Rising up to a more dignified position, Ozpin gave Glynda a small nod before she called out. 

"You may enter."

"Mr. Ozpin, it's good you weren't busy. This is extremely urgent and requires your immediate attention. There's been a disturbingly large concentration of Grimm that Hunters reported appeared merely an hour ago a few hundred kilometers from here. I have a bullhead prepped for take-off. Who will you are assigning?"

It was none other than Professor Oobleck who had managed to spew forth the massive amount of information in the five seconds it took the man to practically sprint to his seat in front of Ozpin. Years of working with the man had Glynda and Ozpin simply listen to the man's ramblings and decipher them mentally, both of them finishing at the same time as they shot each other looks.

"Team Coco." Ozpin said to Glynda's simultaneous, "Peter." They both gave Bartholomew a look when the man coughed into his hand and then cleared his throat, looking as if he couldn't manage to say something.

"They…well…it's _**a LOT**_ of Grimm." Oobleck said extremely slowly, which just happened to be at a normal person's pace.

"Are you suggesting that a team of second years and a Huntsman of Peter's qualification may not be enough?" Glynda asked with doubt rolling off her words in spades.

"Precisely."

"What do you have in mind?" Ozpin asked, smirking as he clasped his hands together.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Jaune let out a bellow of a laugh that would have Professor Port crying manly tears in pure pride as he swung his new favorite thing of all time down into the Ursa's skull, cleaving the head into two neat pieces. The black insides of the Grimm splattered against the eerily blood red floor of the Emerald Forest.

"Eh, nice job Jaune." Ruby said meekly, watching warily as Jaune spun around, scouting the ground for anything to chop into bits. The new black sword in hand.

The truth of the matter was that the new weapon terrified Ruby. Jaune had been very quiet about it after he had fought their way to freedom from the death den that was Mt. Glenn. That, _**thing**_ _,_ had made a straight shot to a service tunnel that managed to get them to the surface. Of course, the horde of Grimm protecting the new exit would've posed a huge problem.

' _If Jaune didn't suddenly become a badass.'_ Ruby thought to herself as she proceeded to fight off a mad blush as she watched Jaune's physique as he decapitated a Beowolf.

' _I'm just spotting. It's what snipers do. They do it all the time…'_ The redhead said to herself, trying to justify her actions instead of ponder the feeling welling up in her every time she stared at Jaune more than what would be considered normal.

But her small smile turned into a frown when she saw Jaune give up on finding a living Grimm. He turned around and gave her a big wave before stabbing the black sword into a dead Beowolf's chest. Ruby felt her stomach do flips as the wispy smoke of the corpse stopped floating off into sky and instead started swirling around Jaune's sword and up his arm before seemingly seeping into Jaune. The corpse seemed to shrink as it dissolved faster and faster, far faster than Ruby had ever seen one do naturally. In less than a minute, the whole creature was gone. Then Jaune repeated the process with an Ursa.

Ruby tried to happy for Jaune, she really did. He had discovered his semblance after all. Ruby couldn't figure out the science behind it, but apparently Jaune could absorb the negative energy that all creatures of Grimm were made of. The fact that he could only do so with that new sword of his didn't sit well with her though, and when she voiced her thoughts, Jaune had reacted violently.

' _He's…different. But is that such a bad thing?"_ The scythe-wielder asked herself as she watched Jaune twirl his blade in the air before catching it and slaying an imaginary Grimm in a shockingly great feat of agility and skill. She only started to gap when he caught her staring and winked before giving her a huge smirk and getting back to work.

"Why did you have to absorb so many anyways?" Ruby called out, sitting down, her leg still hurting enough she'd take any chance to get off it she could.

"I guess because I just feel stronger after every one. Like, they're all stacking up. I burn off a lot of it between carrying you, fighting off all those Grimm, and the new things I'm practicing with when you rest." Jaune yelled out, his back still turned to Ruby as he knelt down between a Deathstalker and an Ursa. He had spent a good minute hacking into the thick armor, actually chipping away at the once-seemingly impenetrable protection the creature had earned over the years by merely managing to survive it's encounters with Hunters over the course of it's life. Making sure to stab the sword deep into the flesh of the Deathstalker, he tentatively held out a hand before placing it on the Ursa's head. Creasing his brow in concentration, Jaune gave a beaming smile when the wispy smoke started to flow around his hand.

"Like that. Did you see that Ruby? I don't even need the sword!"

"That's great!" Ruby said, giving him a small smile and flashing him a thumbs up. She didn't feel it would be right to say that there was less smoke coming from the hand without the sword and the fact that he was still holding the sword firmly in his other hand. She looked away, not being able to watch Jaune while he "siphoned" the Grimm, as Jaune preferred to call it. That's when she saw a terrifying sight. The sun setting.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"We're about ten minutes away." Professor Port boomed out loudly, not noticing that all of Team CFVY, RWBY, and JNPR minus their leaders flinched away from him. Coco and Velvet chatted amongst themselves lively, excited at the prospect of a rare chance to have a mission occur at night when Grimm where their most dangerous. Yatsuhashi and Fox actually managed to hook Ren into a pleasant conversation, but the rest of girls had all scattered, separating from one another to try and collect their thoughts.

Pyrrah remained seated, her thoughts on a certain blonde flooding her head. While many things, Pyrrah wasn't perfect, as much as people would argue. While everyone at Beacon would say that Pyrrah only seemed to have gotten better on the battlefield since she lost the dead weight, one Jaune Arc, Pyrrah hadn't gotten any better per say; just more ferocious. The first person who had the gall to congratulate her team on the loss of the blonde doofus had been pinned to a wall courtesy of Milo very much like Jaune had once been pinned, only this time Pyrrah's trade mark 'Sorry!' wasn't present, but a glare that promised a brutal beat down should the topic be brought up again. Whenever she entered battle, her vision would become a hazy red mist as she imagined herself back at Mt. Glenn, and Jaune was just past her enemies, be they creatures of Grimm or human.

Yang was across the Bullhead from Pyrrah, staring deeply at the dark night sky through a small pane of glass.

"Is that what I look like when I'm reading a book? Yikes, I can see why you guys think I don't hear a word around me." Blake said, giving a small smile that almost didn't seem forced.

"Mh." Yang grunted. Blake only narrowed her eyes at Yang while giving a small sigh.

"I thought I was the one who made the non-committal noises around here." Blake tried again; putting a hand on Yang's shoulder in what she hoped would be a reassuring way.

"Blake…don't. I just…can't." Yang said as she pressed her forehead to the cool metal of the bullhead. Blake felt a tremor at how vulnerable Yang, the rock of team RWBY, sounded. Without even stopping to consider what it'd look like, Blake walked right up to the curvy blonde and wrapped her arms her waist, giving the lilac-eyed girl a hug from behind. Despite having done it in hopes of reassuring Yang, the Ninja found herself tearing up and digging her nose into the blonde's shoulder.

"Y-yang. Ruby's…s-she's…it's been days…The entire tunnel c-collapsed."

Red eyes spun around to meet golden ones.

" **Don't. Talk. Like. That. Or I'll have to explain to Ruby why I killed off the B in RWBY."**

Everyone in the small cockpit could only stare slack-jawed at the scene. Weiss herself had had a small breakdown of her own when hope had begun dwindling for her dolt of a leader, and she found that she didn't dare defend Blake. Whether it was because she was too scared of Yang or too scared to claim that Blake's claim had credibility the Schnee didn't know.

The tears stopped trailing down Blake's face as she sniffled, before staring down Yang. She launched forward, a blur. Slipping her hands around her neck, Blake pulled down on Yang's head.

And there she was. The quietest, arguably the most anti-social member of Team RWBY, actually nuzzling into Yang's neck. Everyone saw her look up and yank Yang even lower, whispering into her ear.

Absolutely no **ONE** strained their ears to hear the words, growing jealous of the only other Faunus in the room who could obviously hear their words if the small blush on her face was any indication. Ren was certainly NOT the one glaring at Velvet the hardest.

The moment was cut off by the ever professional hunter Professor Port, who was certainly not looking at his two students with a glazed look in his eyes. He coughed into his fist, and once more. And again. He raised his eyebrows as if to laugh at the situation, took a look at Blake who was still hanging off Yang, and coughed into his fist again. Ren walked up to the Professor and started to slap him on the back when the coughing didn't cease. All the females, minus Nora, rolled their eyes at the supposed professional before the cockpit opened up, the copilot leaning in the door way.

"This is as close we can get. We're approximately two kilometers away from the epicenter that is the shit storm outside. I don't think we need to bother with directions."

The man didn't even so much as blink when he opened up the doors, all of the students and Port flinging themselves out.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"How are you holding up Ruby?" Jaune asked, slamming his shield into a Beowolf's open mouth, ripping the beast's jaw off before he finished it off.

"I'm doing alright. They're getting a bit close though. Do that thing again." Ruby stated calmly as she sat cross-legged on the floor.

For the past hour, she had watched Jaune battle the Grimm ceaselessly. At first she hated the fact that her leg still prevented her from fighting, and she had been forced to act solely as a sniper supporting him. Even then, she could only fire off so many rounds with Crescent Rose stabbed into the ground before the reduced recoil put too much strain on her body and forced her to stop. She'd start shooting again after a couple of minutes, and had to deal with being the helpless damsel in distress when she had ran out of ammunition, despite all the ammo she had been trying to conserve the last few days they had spent slowly but surely making their way back to Beacon.

Ruby was starting to get over her fear of Jaune's semblance when she saw just how amazing it ended up being. It seemed that all the Grimm he'd manage to absorb after a battle that didn't dissolve away before he could get to them did more than make him feel stronger. Whatever he had been doing seemed to be revitalizing him, allowing him to battle for hours on end with seemingly endless energy, and all this coming from the girl who could run at the speed of sound all day. At one point during the middle of a rather large meal of standard issue mission rations, Ruby realized that she'd been eating far too much from their one supply. It was then that Jaune had admitted that he hadn't been eating the last few days, much to Ruby's dismay and anger at his misplaced selflessness. The blonde knight told her he hadn't as so much felt the urge, and also admitted that he had stayed awake all night several times to watch over the both of them.

"You got it!" Jaune said, ducking under a Deathstalker's claw, letting out a ferocious cry before he swung and cut off the entire limb.

The redhead watched on as Jaune ran over to her, abandoning combat. He stood over her and closed his eyes in concentration, his grip on the black sword tightening to the point Ruby saw his knuckles turn white.

"I think these are it. You know, you should name that thing." Ruby said making small talk before covering her ears and tucking herself into a small ball. The Arc only grunted in acknowledgement before twirling around in a circle, swing the blade with him. An arc of black energy shot out, seemingly disintegrating Grimm upon contact, a ring of death was slowly spreading.

"Wow." Ruby said, still awestruck at the mere power of the move, even though it was the second time Ruby had seen Jaune do it.

"How…many was that? Two in one day…that's…the limit." Jaune said weakly, before smiling at Ruby and falling over.

"Jaune!" Ruby yelled out, trying to spring up to her feet and catch him, only falling herself as her broken leg reminded her she wasn't in such great condition herself. Slowly crawling over to him, Ruby's heart dropped as she saw flipped Jaune over and saw him deadly still. She let go of the breathe she had been holding when she saw his chest slightly rise. Then, movement caught her eye.

Unbelievably, red eyes stared back from the wisps of the dying Grimm several meters away. The tide of Grimm continued, the small break Jaune had gotten them was up. Her heart clenching, Ruby took Jaune's hand into her own and let her head fall onto Jaune's chest. She only allowed a single tear to fall down her face as she gave thanks to all the good things in her life.

"Thank you for the gift of life."

She heard the howl of a Beowolf in the distance, it almost sounded like a cry of triumph.

"Thank you for my Mother, and my other Mother. For both of them."

An Ursa Major somewhere let out a gruesome roar, a guttural cry.

"Thank you for the amazing friends. For Signal, Beacon, RWBY, JNPR."

She saw the flashes of white bone seem to get faster, almost as if the Grimm were rushing even more to get to her.

"Sorry I couldn't keep my promise. But hey, I died trying. Just like her."

The Grimm were too close for her to see more than a blur of shapes, though she only saw them from the edge of her vision. Her eyes were centered on Jaune's calm face. Her hands grazed Jaune's cheeks, wiping away her falling tears, and Jaune seemed to smile at the sensation.

"And thanks for my Knight here. Sorry I couldn't run fast enough to at least get him out here."

Then the most inhumane scream Ruby had ever heard shook her to the core. Ripping her eyes away from Jaune, she saw a day that would go down in history. Not that she or anyone there knew it at the time, for it was the time that the Light didn't just fight off the Darkness, it burned.

Yang continued to scream as she charged through the Grimm.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Shoutouts: Special shoutout to TheWriterWhoEnjoysSarcasm for their wonderfully nice review, even if it was too kind. To Spartan Ninja, and Ursarang, Momijifan Low-ki, Lightning Havoc, and Jauney Boy for repeatedly reviewing and making my day each time! Kudos to you all!**

 **Ok,** **THIS ISN'T THE SPOILERS.** **So, yeah, that happened. If anyone's confused, hopefully this'll clear some things up. The first part of the chapter consists of the days after everyone besides Jaune and Ruby escape together. Yang harassed Jr. into making a man hunt for the two, Ozpin obviously sent second years too. The mission the teams are sent out to are about two weeks after the incident. The reason Jaune and Ruby took so long, besides her broken leg, will be in the spoilers.**

 **So everybody, I need to name the sword. It's evil, it's badass, and Jaune is going to covet the thing as much as Ruby loves Crescent Rose, so it deserves an equally kickass name. I'll be putting up a poll for the top five names that get support. On the off chance I don't get any feedback by the time I write the next chapter, I shall be naming the sword Umbra as a reference to the soul stealing sword in the TES Oblivion. The poll will still be up and I'll probably go back and change the name if you readers show unified demands for one name.**

 **Spoilers.**

 **Ok, so Jaune's abilities. They're…not his semblance. Not that he knows that. The sword is important. Jaune's abilities so far comprise of**

 **The ability to absorb Grimm once their dead.**

 **To survive off the energy gathered, and even retain the energy much like aura.**

 **The ability to shoot out all the energy he has in one large arc beam. (No, that's not a pun. But hey, if the shoe fits…which one was the right one again?**

 **Next are the disadvantages of the abilities.**

 **The strength he gains from the grimm is not aura. So if he runs out of that, and gets hit, all the strength in the world means jack shit.**

 **Although he can survive on the energy alone, once he dispels all of it like he just did, his body will revert back to the stage it should be if he hadn't had the energy in the first place.**

 **Come on, he's absorbing Grimm, the creatures made of negative emotions. You DON'T think it's evil?**


	15. A Hero's Comeback

The world was a grey blur. Jaune tried to turn his head, the action proving to be surprisingly difficult, despite the task being the only thing taking up the entirety of his mind. Deciding the impossible wasn't worth the effort, he moved on to his next objective. Addressing the void of darkness that had been present for as long as he could remember, which admittedly wasn't very long. If moving his head seemed impossible, the thought of opening his eyes should've been impossible. After what felt like an eternity, Jaune heard a voice.

"How is he?"

"He's recovering. Honestly, it's amazing how he wasn't dead. If he wasn't a Hunter I'd say it would be all but impossible he was still on his feet a week ago, much less two days. Hell, even with the fact he's a Hunter, I've never seen such a sever case. He's truly one tough man."

"…Yeah, that's always been Jaune." A timid voice said, a jumble of emotions making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.

 _Who is that?_

The Blonde Knight found the strength to crack open an eyelid, just as he felt a prick in his arm.

"What was that for?"

"It's morphine. He had the strangest of wounds we'd ever seen here. The wound only seemed to grow in severity as time went on, and at one point we were certain he was dying, but it finally stopped and we managed to patch him up. He's been coming to briefly lately, and the pain shortly renders him unconscious once more."

Jaune heard the words, but they really didn't process. They were shoved to the back of his mind, where his subconscious could have it's way with the information as all attention was devoted to trying to make the blurry image he was seeing into a distinguishable form. All he managed to see was red before the numbness began to take him once more. 

"Ruby?" A hoarse voice whispered to no one.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Ruby?"

Jaune warily eyed the make shift camp grounds for any sign of the hooded reaper he'd grown so attached to. Black and red clouded his vision, and suddenly the world focused on a tiny point. The rather sharp and pointy end of Crescent Rose actually, mere centimeters in front of the spot in the middle of his eyes. The shaft of the high caliber sniper scythe off to his side, giving away the position of the wielder, which crouched behind Jaune.

"Even crippled, I still managed to sneak up on ya Vomit Boy." Ruby whispered gleefully into his ear, not out of vanity but for reassurance that a broken leg wouldn't be the downfall of the great and powerful Ruby Rose.

"You know, considering how much you love thing, I think it's safe to say you consider it an extension of yourself. And right now, you are **way** to up in my personal bubble." Jaune said with a smirk, pushing away Crescent rose with one hand while nudging his still unnamed sword a bit. Ruby could on gasp silently at Jaune's word until she felt something brush her chest, and looked down to see Jaune's sword, poised to ram straight through her at a moment's notice. The Reaper wouldn't have been so close to claiming Jaune's life as she thought she'd been. Embarrassment turned to shock as she watched Jaune calmly walk towards the center of their little camp.

"There was a small stream over that ways. It looks like we'll be able to use it on our way back to Beacon for a while. Have some water, you'll need it." The blonde stated loudly as he threw his flask at Ruby. They both silently grieved over the fact that life-saving water was the substance occupying the flask instead of the usual, admittedly unhealthy drinks Jaune preferred.

"We setting off again then?" Ruby asked in a hushed tone, still conscious of the fact that they were potentially surrounded by Grimm every moment unlike Jaune, who'd only been growing cockier and cockier as the toll of Grimm slain by his hand only increased exponentially every day.

"Yeah… I don't know what's doing it but the Grimm are coming in hordes at us. It isn't safe to stay anywhere too long." Jaune said with a hard face as the black sword clanged against his thigh.

"I'm sorry Ruby. I know you're tired but you're being a real troo-…" Jaune drawled off as he saw the redhead openly staring at the sword, her mouth set in a thin frown. It went without saying that she considered the object the bane of their troubles. Her eyes went up to look into Jaune's and she flinched at the harsh glare he was sending her.

"Don't be ridiculous Ruby. The sword has nothing to do with the Grimm. If anything, this sword and I are the only reason we're not itty bitty pieces in some Ursa's stomach. More so than Crescent Rose anyways…" Jaune said sharply, muttering the last part, but not quietly enough if the gasp the Scythe-wielder made was any evidence. Ruby could only stare at the Arc in utter shock, that was slowly being replaced with boiling rage.

"Listen here Jaune Arc! First of all, Crescent Rose could kick your shit, yes SHIT sword's ass any day! Second, don't forget you're the reason we're here in the first place, because I had to save your scrawny butt!" The redhead said as she slowly limped her way to Jaune, boldly looking up at him and standing on her tippy toes to show him just how serious she was being.

"You know you're beautiful when you're angry. And you're right, I'll make sure to pay you back and take you out to an _**extra**_ special restaurant once we finish this date." Jaune said, the thin line that had adorned his face for the duration of the verbal lashing that the short girl gave him morphing into the smirk full of false bravado he usually reserved for Weiss. Ruby was taken aback by his words, and her fury died down for a moment as she tried to process all the feelings she'd been shifting from too quickly. It all went back to anger though, and Ruby let out an indignant huff, crossing her arms.

"Don't even try that with me Jaune. It didn't work with Yang and it won't work with me." Ruby smiled to herself as she remembered the wall Jaune had promptly been thrown throw courtesy of Yang. She didn't notice Jaune walking away, shouldering both their packs until he yelled back at her.

"I thought it would work this time since it was true." Jaune decided not to ponder whether Ruby limped along silent in fuming anger or if it were for another reason.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **This time Jaune awoke to pain.**

It wasn't agonizing, making him wrench back and forth. And it wasn't the only sensation he had. Besides the dull ache that seemed to span the entirety of his body, the blonde felt a dry, raspy sensation in his throat.

" _Danger! Ruby! Grimm!"_

Opening his eyes, Jaune scratched as his throat in a disoriented frenzy, unable to think rationally as he instinctually worked to fix whatever was harming him. He didn't even notice the firm hands trying to hold him down until there were about four too many for it to be a single person. This only served to further give Jaune reason to panic, and he began to thrash wildly, intent on not going down without a fight. The strange sound amongst his wild grunts and the cries of the medical staff was what finally broke Jaune from his spell. It was an unmistakable sound; sobbing.

His eyes snapped into focus, losing the glazed look, and he looked down to see a mob of red hair, crying into his chest.

Jaune stopped struggling, and with wary eyes, the people holding him down slowly let go. He opened him south to speak, but only a small yet painful grunt came out. Jaune didn't even finish pointing at his throat when a nurse in an appealing uniform handed him a tall glass of water. It was room temperature, and tasted like it was left out on a table for a few days, but it might as well have been melted off a glacier for all Jaune cared.

When Jaune finally put down the empty glass, the content sigh he wanted to give died in his throat as he looked down at a tear-stained Pyrrha, smiling at him even as her body continued to shake.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"So you're saying he discovered his semblance shortly after having found this sword?" Weiss asked, confusion evident in her tone.

"It's probably the only reason we made it out of Mt. Glenn at all, honestly." Ruby said nonchalantly, her words betraying her as they painted a morbid thought to the rest of Team RWBY.

"We'll have to make sure to thank him when he wakes up then." Blake said, her book nowhere in sight, a rare occurrence that only served to reassure Ruby that she truly had been missed, worried about, and possibly grieved over in her absence.

"Damn right we're going to thank him...He brought me back you after all." Yang said quietly, hugging Ruby's side firmly. Yang was sitting next to Ruby on her bed, practically smothering the younger sister in a hug that Ruby didn't have the heart nor will to complain about, no matter how embarrassing it was. Both Blake and Weiss were content to smile happily at the heart warming scene, until Yang and Ruby both looked up at them before returning the gesture and beckoning them over. Blake walked over with a small smile and didn't so much as roll an eye when Yang threw an arm over her shoulder and pulled her in.

Weiss on the other hand looked reluctant, before she walked over with a hesitant smile and put a reassuring hand on Ruby's leg. Ruby would have none of that, but Yang beat her to the punch and managed to jerk Weiss onto the heap of hugs, and Ruby was quick to give Weiss a hug by the waist before deciding it was good enough and choose to let go. The Schnee Heiress however hugged Ruby even tighter after that with both hands, eyes tearing up at both gestures her leader had done. She showed the Ice Queen she cared about her yet still showed her she'd respect her boundaries.

The happy moment only lasted for a minute before a shrill scream was heard and the heavy thud of footsteps outside the hall way died down. They were followed by gentle knocking at the door.

Everyone looked at Weiss who had stood up before shrugging at everyone and opening the door.

"Oh, hello Ren. How're you?" Weiss asked, thrown a bit off by the stoic, as was the rest of RWBY. While they all knew they must've seen Ren smile at one point or another, none could recall ever seeing such a large grin on the usually reserved man's face.

"I'm doing wonderful. We just got news, Jaune's awake."

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Can't…breathe." Jaune managed to squeak out, despite the bone-crushing bear hug he was currently trapped in.

"We missed you!" Nora said, ignoring her fearless leader.

"We really did. We're all relieved you're back, Jaune." Ren said as he walked up to Nora and patted her on the shoulder, their secret signal that meant Nora **could not** kill.

"Some more than others." Nora trailed off, an uncharacteristic frown marring her face. Jaune raised an eyebrow at the somber duo, but Pyrrha walked in before he could question them on it.

"P-pyrrha!" Jaune sputtered as the Amazonian sat down beside his bed, reaching over and clasping his hand firmly in hers without hesitation.

"Yes?" She asked, a large smile plastered on her face. Pyrrha Nikos had lost Jaune once, and she fully planned on being open on how she felt with him back in her life.

"Wh-what are you doing?" The hopelessly lost blonde stuttered as he sent nervous glances over Pyrrha's shoulder in hopes the rest of his team could be of help. Ren, ever stoic, just shrugged at him while Nora seemed to be giving him her approval of something with the big thumbs up she was flashing him.

"Something I should've done a long time ago." Pyrrha muttered.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Ruby! Slow down! The doctors said to take it slow!" Yang shouted out at her sister, who was running at a slight jog. Granted, it was more like a brisk sprint for the rest of Team RWBY as Ruby occasionally flicked away as she used her semblance.

"But I can't wait! I have to-…" Ruby shouted over her shoulder at the rest of RWBY, who got the chance to catch up to the energetic girl now that she had suddenly stopped at the door of the room.

"Ruby, what, oh." Yang said, finding the answer to her question before she could even ask it. As she had walked into the room and side stepped the still Ruby, the busty blonde saw Pyrrha pulling away from Jaune's bedside, where she had been leaning, quite a lot. Yang however glossed over this as she saw the alarming amount of tubes and machines connected to her fellow blonde.

"Ruby!" Jaune and Yang both yelled out as the hooded girl dashed away and out of sight. Yang was already moving to chase after her when a firm hand on her chest stopped her. Looking up with a glare, Yang's eyes conveyed confusion when she met the piercing golden eyes of her fellow partner.

"Yang, Ruby's rather…hurt right now. While I have no doubt you've taken care of her with things like this in the past, I think Ruby could use advice from someone who's had a bit more personal…experience with situations like that." Blake calmly explained, her eyes darting to Jaune to indicate what she meant by situations.

"I…but…fine. Just go already!" Yang said in exasperation, crossing her arms and walking over to stand next to Pyrrha.

"You sure took a beating, didn't you?" The bustier blonde asked with an appreciative whistle at the beginning. No one noticed Nora furiously elbowing Ren in the gut.

"You didn't tell me they **already** booped!" She furiously whispered, to which Ren could only pinch his nose and sigh at her. He was certain Pyrrha would've at least waited until after hours…

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Blake knew Ruby had already taken off. She would've ignored all of the doctor's advice and no doubt used her semblance the entire way to her destination. Add that to the fact that the Faunus had absolutely no idea where her leader would run off to seek solace. It was with a frown that Blake began to doubt herself, pondering whether she should've let Yang go after all. She was so lost in thought she nearly yelled in shock when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Blake's eyes shot up to meet amber eyes that seemingly glowed. A smirk that almost looked **predatory** was sent her way, and the stoic of RWBY found herself taking small, subtle steps away from what she conceived as danger.

"I'm assuming you're looking for the bundle of roses that skyrocketed away? She went that way." Cinder Fall said, her hand trailing along Blake's shoulder until she finally lifted it and pointed down a hallway to the left.

Blake gave a hesitant nod at Cinder and took off running towards Ruby, though she'd be lying to herself if she said she hadn't been running away from something too.

Cinder remained where she stood and watched Blake's retreating form, inquisitive eyes seemingly taking everything in. It wasn't until the girl in black became a black blur that Cinder turned around to be back on her way. She walked past her two subordinates who stood, hands on hips as they wordlessly began to follow her. The silence was eventually broken by Mercury though. He let out a yawn to break the silence as he stretched his arms over his head.

"So, what was that about?" Emerald only glared at her fellow assassin for the almost careless tone he took up with their boss but chose not to bring it up as she too was curious about what Cinder thought.

"That? Oh, it's nothing of interest…yet." Cinder responded, deciding it wasn't worth the effort explaining it to her lackeys. Emerald merely nodded her head in acceptance and subtly jabbed Mercury in the ribs for the large frown he gave at Cinder's lacking response.

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"There's no way." Blake deadpanned to herself as she flashed her scroll, opening the door to their dorm. She almost sighed out loud in shame when she saw the small bundle of pillows on top of one of the bunks. Any thoughts of judging Ruby on her childish hiding spot immediately left Blake's thoughts when she heard the sobs. With the quietness gained from countless missions where her life depended on her being more silent than a mouse, Blake climbed all the way up the bunk without alerting Ruby. Now that she was there, she had no idea how to begin. Thankfully, she didn't have to as Ruby shuffled a bit and felt Blake's legs. The bump in the blanket stopped dead in its track, and prodded her once, twice, thrice before a tentative eye was visible amongst the sheets.

"Ruby! Come out already!" The Cat Faunus said as the eye disappeared and the bundle of blankets tried to scooch away from her.

With hesitation normally reserved for pulling out Ninjas of Love, Blake assured no one was around before she laid down on the best, her head next to the blanket where she was fairly certain Ruby's head was.

"Ruby…if you come out, I'll let you touch my ears." Monty Oum was that demeaning!

The eye amidst the blankets returned, and slowly, a second one emerged. They were followed by strands of black and red hair, before finally coming to an end at a pair of shoulders. A smile tugged at Blake's lips as she saw her leader's head popping out of the sheets, so comical she would've laughed had the circumstances been different.

"Ruby, I want you to-…" Blake was cut off by a lough cough from Ruby, who seemed to be trying to communicate with mere eye gestures. The Cat Faunus could only stare dully at her leader, the person who was supposed she was supposed to hold nothing but respect and loyalty to. Bright silver eyes stared into dead, lifeless golden ones before she let out a loud sigh and put her head down on Ruby's lap. Hands seemingly grew spontaneously from the heaps of blankets and they quickly found their way to the luscious tips of Blake's ears. Her glare went unnoticed, and Ruby chose to ignore the slight red tint on Blake that signified held back fury and was not a blush caused by secret enjoyment at all…

"Ruby, we're going to skip the guessing game…tell me why you ran out of the room."

"Mhh…" The young girl said as she stopped fiddling with Blake's ears and gave her a frown that showed the genuine reluctance Ruby was feeling.

"Did it have anything to do with how hurt Jaune was?" Blake asked, knowing that as long as she got Ruby talking the truth would slip out, sooner or later.

"Yeah, that was part of it. It's just…" Ruby trailed off, and the Cat Faunus was quick to act on her hesitation.

"It's just that wasn't all of it huh? You spent a lot of time out there with Jaune, your leg pretty busted up. He must've defended you quite a bit, more than enough for you to want to pay him back." Even Blake wasn't sure where she was going with this, but the way Ruby seemed to hang off her every word was a sure sign she was on the right track.

"And you wanted to pay him back with more than a mere thank you? Something like…a first kiss?" Blake hazarded, a bit surprised when her guess was confirmed with a blush from Ruby.

"No! No! That's not it at all! I can't even give him that! Not that anyone needs to know that! Don't tell Yang!" Ruby cried out, cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she flailed her arms around to emphasize her point. This time, Blake couldn't help but laugh and grabbed the Reaper by the arm so she couldn't return to the fort of Blankitude.

"Then why did you rush out of the room?"

"I…mean…not everything you said was wrong Blake…I wasn't going to do … _**that!**_ " Ruby threw her arms up in exasperation, "But, I may sorta….have…started looking…you know!" Ruby said, eyes pleading that Blake not make her spell it out. For her part, Blake knew exactly what Ruby wanted to say, but she wanted to hear it for herself. Seeing that the Faunus wasn't going to budge, Ruby threw a blanket over the two of them. The young leader felt better now that she couldn't see her and vice versa. Blake decided not to remind Ruby of her night vision.

"I might've…started looking differently at Jaune since Mt. Glenn. It's like a whole new side of him was revealed out there. I already knew of it, I guess I just never payed attention to it. I…was pretty happy about it. But, seeing Pyrrha, kissing him. I forgot other people were waiting on Jaune. I don't even entirely know I'm disappointed about! But… whatever may have happened, well not anymore, obviously."

Blake could only gap in shock, mouth wide open at the revelation that went far deeper than the older girl had ever expected it to. Her heart nearly wrenched when she saw Ruby begin to tear up, and she quickly found Ruby's hands, giving them reassuring squeezes.

"I must look pretty stupid huh? Crying over what could've been. I haven't done that ever since the first years at Signal, thinking what if my Mother, or hell, Yang's Mom had stuck around."

"Ruby! Don't say that! I don't see a single thing you should be ashamed of!" Blake said sternly, a bit unnerved the most optimistic ball of joy on Remnant was in such condition. She grabbed Ruby firmly by the arms, throwing the blanket off so the redhead would have to look into her eyes when she spoke.

"There's nothing wrong with being disheartened. I can understand you being confused about your emotions, and you're struggling to understand them. You don't have to keep them all to yourself though. Trust me, you'll sooner drive yourself into the ground bottling up your thoughts than actually managing to clear your head. I don't want to give you false hope and tell you anything will work out between you and Jaune. To be honest, I've always felt he wears his heart on his sleeve, and would fall for the first person to reciprocate any feelings. But that doesn't mean you don't have a chance. We're young Ruby, and with the lives we plan on living, love isn't something you'll have the liberty to let bloom on its own. Do what you do best and run Ruby. Run after your dreams, chase them down, and only after you've done your best will you find peace, this I promise you."

The bow totting girl took a deep breath after her long winded speech, and despite the serious mood she'd just set, couldn't help but compare herself to a certain portly professor at that moment. The smile tugging at the edges of her lips died down though when she saw the hard look of concentration on Ruby's face as she seemed to sift through everything she just hard. Blake let out a sigh when Ruby finally looked up a minute later and gave her a small smile. It was immediately followed by a big hug.

"Thank you Blake. I think you were exactly what I needed. I know you'll probably never need it, but I'll always be here for you too. I'm not sure you return the feeling…but I've really started to look at you like a sister." Ruby said into Blake's shoulder, not breaking the hug until she was done. When she did finally pull back, she was surprised to see Blake herself wiping away a single tear.

"I'm glad to hear that Ruby, truly."

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What? You guys forgot about Arkos didn't you! I told you from the beginning things would get complicated. If this is already too much angst for you, I really wouldn't advise sticking with the story, since I almost consider this fluff… Anyways, emotions! Yeah, I've no idea how you guys will react to this. Honest to God, I'm not so sure I did a good job with this.

Time for shoutouts!

Thanks for the all the nice words **Jason Lantern**! I'm sorry this story isn't your usual characters, but it wouldn't be Lunar Rose if it were any different.

Thank you to **SoRatchet!** The story isn't dead, and if you would make an account so you can follow, you'd know that!

A big thank you to **What Lurks Beneath**! What a big review! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! Hopefully I can manage to keep the interactions between the characters realistic!

Thanks Redfootblue! I like innocent Ruby too! Enjoy her while she lasts, Mwahahahaha!

And finally, thank you to **Cheese Queen Kariko** , **Shadowknight49 Productions** (Great pun, I might just have to take it!), **Cherokee2391** , **DarthMaine** , **Paradoxically Abstract** , **Karlos1234ify** , **TheWriterWhoEnjoysSarcasm** , and **RaXieF** for their contributions to the sword poll!


	16. New Beginnings!

**Guys, in the spirit of New Years and trying new things, I wrote this chapter in an all new perspective. Rest assured, I won't stick with it. I was inspired to write like this by Lucky7777's "Subordinate." It's a great RWBY fanfic that switches between Jaune and Adam Taurus, Jaune being Sherlock-ish and Adam his WATSON! I assure you, his 1** **st** **person perspective is a lot better than mine, so don't judge his work by the atrocity before you. Without ado, I'm glad to get you guys this chapter at exactly 12:00 a.m of 2016 here in California.**

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I sat there…and contemplated suicide.

Never in my life had the thought crossed my mind, but it didn't surprise me so much now that I'm looking back.

People always berated for me for throwing myself into danger, just for someone else. Granted, the danger was never more severe than a school bully or a previously revered, broken mug; trouble more than danger.

Recently though, a school bully turned into a 6 ft. Beowolf, and a broken mug turned into a dent on Crescent Rose or Magnhild. People became Hunters and suddenly throwing yourself into danger became being a hero.

"Huh, funny how a change of perception could do that."

I shook my head as I talked to myself, glancing once more at the damnable clock I was certain was broken.

"Yup…it's only been a minute."

I let out a sigh, knowing that my boredom would end as soon as classes ended.

"Just four more hours…If only I had Crocea Mors."

Yeah, if I were to selfishly deprive the world of another handsome, Arc manly man, it certainly won't be done with a plastic spork.

Another glance at the clock, only ten seconds having gone by.

Stab.

Stab.

Stab.

"Uh, you alright there Jaune?"

I didn't squeal like a little girl. I most certainly didn't begin thrusting the dagger-like spork at the intruder.

"Heyyyy Rubes…just trying to uh…get this fly."

 _That sounded pretty reasonable._

"Oh, I get that. I once got so mad I fired off a shot at one of the little buggers. It was a pretty easy fix, but it would've helped if I hadn't been at the ground floor...eh, I'm ranting."

I actually raised an eyebrow.

"Not that I don't enjoy your stories, but I never thought I'd see the day Ruby Rose would stop mid-rant."

I glanced warily at my spork, holding it up to the light so as to search for any hidden lethality I may have missed.

"Ya, I actually had something else I wanted to talk about."

Ruby seemed to squirm in the small doorway to the room. The room itself was one of many identical rooms; white walls, a single bed, four chairs off in the corner, and a small desk stand on wheels meant for meals. There was also the standard t.v. in the corner of the room, but I had the luck to get what was probably the only broken one in the entirety of the building.

I gave the short girl one of my most reassuring smiles and gestured for her to pull a chair over.

"So, what did you want to…Something the matter?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, amusement lacing my words.

I watched Ruby's eyes repeatedly glancing over to my right, where my chest would be. I turned my head back to the right so I was looking forward and realized she was looking at the food tray I hadn't moved aside yet.

 _Hmm…I doubt she's interested in the bread crusts. Empty glass of jello isn't it either…. Is it?_

"Would you like a straw-… berry"

 _Huh, good to know._

Ruby wiped her mouth free of the tell tale red smudges of a strawberry practically inhaled with her sleeve before giving a bashful smile, and tried to save face by smoothing out her combat skirt in a very ladylike manner, just like Weiss taught her.

She gave Jaune a small smile and the room erupted in a loud fit of giggles, both occupants not holding anything back as they didn't stop until their brains demanded oxygen. Tears were streaming down the cute girl's face at this point before she finally ended it all with a snort.

"Aw man, thanks for the pick me up Ruby. You have no idea how insanely bored I was."

I watched her give me a once-over before raising her eyebrows and twirling the spork in her fingers.

 _When did she?_

"Bored enough to consider death by spork? I get it, I mean it. I'd prefer this over the mass murder that was Port's class."

"Ruby Rose, are you," _cue fake gasp_ , "skipping class?!"

Ruby pouted at me, throwing her hand on her hip.

 _Cute._ The word popped into my head all on its own.

"I know, I know. Yang's usually the one who plays hooky. But I…well I kinda ran out yesterday and I didn't get to see you."

And just like that, a pin dropping in the room would've been audible.

"Yeah…I remember hearing your whining outside the door. Then that nurse started to argue with Yang…then the Doctor's orderly came…she warmed up pretty quick to him…more cute whining on your part, though now aimed at Yang."

"Yeah…eep." Ruby said shyly, not having registered the cute remark right away.

"Eep huh? I made the same noise when they decided to stick me with every needle they could find!"

 _Keep her laughing Jaune, funny is good._

"I…heh. You know, you sure do have a lot of machines strapped to you despite being the one who at one point carried me." Ruby tried to say with a smile, but it quickly died and it was obvious. The concern might as well have been etched on a stone tablet.

"I guess I threw my back out at some point, carrying you so much. Seriously Rubes, ease of the cookies sometime huh?"

 _Not going to joke my way out of this one huh?_

"Honestly Ruby, you have nothing to worry about. Almost all of these are absolutely useless, but I couldn't convince those Monty-forsaken machines out of here. Seriously, do I look like I need my heartbeat monitored?"

I only squirmed a _**little bit**_ as I watched Ruby's face crunch up in determination, giving me a slow once over. She finally seemed to finish as we locked eyes.

 _Wow, didn't know a face could be that red._ They both thought.

Neither broke eye contact despite it though, and nearly a minute went by before their impromptu staring contest was interrupted. The clicking of the handle coincided with the scythe wielder's eyes widening comically, before a flurry of petals consumed Jaune.

Trying to brush aside a few petals as nonchalantly as possible, I shot the nurse who had just entered a large smile.

"Rita! Wonderful to see you!"

 _Damn it Ruby!_ I muttered as pushed down on the small bump to my right, checking the blanket to make sure the small girl's feet weren't hanging out in plain sight.

"And it's _oh so wonderful_ to see you again, _Jaune._ "

"Th-thanks!"

 _That really stings Ruby!_

"So, you'll be out by tomorrow morning huh? Are you sure you don't want your sponge bath?" Rita said, a lustful twinkle in her eyes.

"Naw. Thanks for the…third offer?" I respond with a smile.

 _Man, this hospital is so lucky to have such dedicated workers like Rita._

"That's such a shame."

 _Tch, her pout's got nothing on Ruby._

"Well, I just came to get your dirty plates."

My eyes widened for two reasons; I fearfully pushed the tabletop of food that was over my chest and the bump that was Ruby over to Rita's side of the room, and my legs twitch whenever I'm nervous.

"Listen _Mr. Arc,_ I know you insist you're fine and I agree," _Wonder what's in her eye, it almost looks like she winked,_ "but I'd hate to see you back, in the hospital that is. So here's my scroll number. I want you to call. Also, if you need any kind of help too." Rita began walking away, sauntering her hips in a very familiar way.

 _Hey! Pyrrha walks like that too! Not very often, but what a coincidence!_

Rita threw a look over her shoulder only to smirk at the crimson blush on her hunky patient's face.

 _Why is she looking back?! Did she find Ruby? Did she know the entire time!?_

My leg twitches.

Poke.

 _WHAT'RE you doing Ruby?! Oh Monty she's still looking!_

Leg twitching intensifies.

Poking intensifies.

The sound of the door gently closing echoes in the small room.

"Oh Thank Monty."

Poke.

 _Ehhh…_

"Ruby, you can come out now."

I couldn't help but grin at her as she came out with a small smile of her own, before she suddenly couldn't make eye contact with me. She spoke before I got the chance to ask her why though.

"So…nothing underneath that gown huh?"

 _Oh. OH!_

"I I-…" But thankfully Ruby cut off the rest of what would've been a long, stuttering rant.

"Relax Jaune! It's uh, just as my fault. I didn't know where else to hide, and I shouldn't have poked your leg. I didn't see anything, of course! Not to say there's nothing to see! I'm sure there's plenty to see but from vantage point I couldn't have seen anything even I had wanted to which I didn't and-…"

"Ok, ok, ok. Relax Ruby! I totally get it." I say with a nervous chuckle, raising my hands in surrender. I fight down the slightly confusing feelings of awkwardness, pride, and disappointment of all things.

"Yeah. Listen Jaune, I came back to say thank you. For everything."

I started to cut her off, waving my hands to dismiss her gratitude and the 'it was no problem' died on the tip of my tongue as she vehemently shook her head and put a finger to my lips.

"No Jaune, you saved my life back there. I…needed you there for me and you pulled through! That's something huge! I've…had important people not be there for me before, and I can't tell you what it's like when you start to make excuses for them. But you, I didn't need to excuse a thing. You were my rock, more like my Knight really. I wanted to thank you, but I saying all this now, words don't feel like they cut it."

 _Wow._

"Ruby… I don't know what to say. I'm glad I could be there for you. And really, you don't need to get me anything. Honestly, I don't think you can top off giving me that kiss."

 _Oh shit, I forgot about. GAH! Why did I bring that up!_ I winced as the words came out and I closed my eyes, afraid of seeing Ruby's face for bringing that up.

"Oh, you mean back in Emerald Forest?" Ruby said in a whisper.

I nodded my head, eyes still closed.

"It's ok Jaune…it was just on the cheek, I don't count it as a kiss." She said in what sounded like dejection?

"Uh, yeah. I'm sorry about that Ruby, I understand you probably don't want anyone to know about it."

I saw Ruby's eyes shoot open, but she cut me off for the second time that day.

"Jaune! That's it! Close your eyes!"

"What is?" I asked, closing my eyes regardless.

"Your reward."

I felt a soft touch on my hands before I could follow up with a question and realized they were Ruby's hands before I could feel her in front of me.

An even softer sensation tickled me, and I realized they were lips. Not mine, but Ruby's. My eyes shot open, to see her eyes closed tightly in concentration. And then, it was over, all in the span of two seconds that felt abysmally longer.

She blinked owlishly at me, and I realized I must've been as red as her cape.

"Prince Charming didn't wake up Snow White with a peck on her cheek. So, I figured the first one didn't count. That's my present, my first kiss." Ruby said quietly, digging the toe of her shoe into the floor as she held her hands behind her back and looked shyly to the ground.

I could only gap, still trying to get over the shock. So I didn't really process what I said next.

"Yeah."

 _Smooth Arc, real smooth._

I couldn't help but chuckle at Ruby's giggles.

"Smooth Vomit-boy, real smooth."

I gave her a soft smile, only a slight tint of pink on my face.

"Yeah…listen Ruby." I said, my voice becoming serious.

She shot me a worried look.

"I still feel like you owe me."

She seemed to shrink back a bit, and started to stutter.

"I I don't know what-…"

"Ruby," I grab her hand as I beckoned her to come closer. She takes a few hesitant steps towards me. "Closer." She leans over, blushing nearly as badly as I did a few moments ago and I raise an eyebrow in amusement.

"Closer."

Her eyes dart around the room before she quickly leans as close as the short girl can, her hair tickling my noise as my mouth hovers a few inches from her ear.

"Get. Me. Out. Of. Here." I tighten my hold on her arm as my voice cracks in desperation and she leans back to flash me a smirk, eyes gleaming at the chance to be mischievous.

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 **Yay! I made another chapter just in time for New Years! Just as the possibilities only grow as the New Year comes, so do the possibilities for Jaune and Ruby! Despite all the bumps up until now, this may or may not be the start for great new things to come! Bad things are nearly guaranteed to occur, in fact that's the ONLY thing I'm promising will happen! But you guys will hopefully get to read along with me throughout this year! I have a new beta, I want everyone to meet WATSON! I forgot their name, but WATSON doesn't mind that! WATSON is currently enjoying New Year's Day, still eve for me, a bit too much to beta or write in his own part of the Author's note. Don't judge WATSON for being a raging alcoholic too much. You may have noticed I haven't determined whether WATSON is a boy or girl, I'll leave it to you guys to antagonize her over it. Seriously, bother him a lot. Now, time for SHOUTOUTS!**

 **(Post edit 01-02-16)** **Higa everyone! Watson here. First time ever doing an authors note so I dunno what to say really, besides stating the obvious of being the new beta for the story! Hope I'm not making a fool of myself or anythijg, I'll get better, I promise! Watson signing out. (I decided to keep his spelling errors there to be a dick, everyone give her hate! And without further do, TIME FOR SHOUTOUTS!)**

 **Darth Cruel- Thanks for the nice words buddy! I'll keep the work up!**

 **Spartan Ninja- My Arkos shipping soul is also stirring XD, but my Lancaster soul is humming in satisfaction.**

 **ShadowKnight49 Productions- Wet socks, I'm resisting the urge to make a dirty joke here. I don't know who those people you're referring to are, but they seem nice…**

 **Sdphantom10- And angst you shall receive, I promise!**

 **ExactChase- I've only ever watched one episode of Dr. Who. It didn't catch my attention enough for me to watch more, much less quote it, so any similiarities are purely coincidental.**

 **Garoorar- YES! I agree! THREESOMES for the win, why do all this pesky deciding? WATSON! Put the knife down! Ok, ok! I'll make a damn choice…bitch bastard….**

 **RaXief- Why must the Arkos ship die? Wouldn't a harem technically keep it alive? OW! Damn it Watson I was only being half serious!**

 **What Lurks Beneath- Thanks for far too many words for me to write in one minute before new years! Next time!**


	17. And The Plot Thickens

**And the Plot Thickens**

"Seriously, you're the best Ruby." Jaune said in a hushed whisper, giving the redhead a small smile that was far too mischievous for the small crime they were committing, which amounted to skipping class.

"It was no problem Jaune. I'm just sorry I couldn't find your weapons." Ruby replied with a weak smile. Her inner turmoil at not being able to achieve the only condition Jaune had asked of her when he asked her to spring him from the hell that was the medical wings of Beacon went unknown by the clueless blonde.

"For the millionth time Rubes, don't worry about it. I'm almost positive Pyrrha put all of them in my locker for me." Jaune mumbled reassuringly, trying to wave away Ruby's worry.

This time, he _did_ notice the frown that marred the smaller girl's face at the mentioning of the other redhead in Jaune's life, and chose to _ignore_ it.

"Listen, let's hang out like this again sometime soon?" Jaune stated more than asked, reaching for his scroll to unlock his dorm's door.

"Of course, definitely, absolutely…I'd really like that." Ruby stuttered into the wall, facing away in shame at her ramblings, though she meekly mumbled the last part.

Giving her one last smile, and making sure to make it an extra-large one, the Knight watched Ruby flash him a smaller smile that almost seemed to be made of, what he could only explain as uncertainty, only to be taken aback by the calculative look in her silver eyes before she finally turned her back on him and walked away, back to which ever class she was expected to be at.

With the _whoosh_ of the door closing, Jaune let his smile fade away to what amounted to a frown with his brow crinkling, a scowl.

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I let out a sigh, a sound only heard in this room strictly when Nora's antics proved to be a bit too much for a certain quiet-natured Huntsman in training.

A smile threatened to tug at my lips before a single look at the room reminded me of the thoughts that had been plaguing my mind for an entire night and the majority of the day. Needless to say, any urge to smile died right away.

I moved towards my bed, before spotting Pyrrha's bed. I had to fight down the urge to press myself against the wall in order to avoid it as much as possible, letting out a growl as my own actions worked to frustrate me.

Throwing a hand to my forehead, I resisted the urge to let out another dramatic sigh as I sunk down into my bed, only briefly considering throwing my blanket over my head and just ignoring my problems.

"If only it were so easy." I said out loud to myself, snorting.

Closing my eyes, I get up to sit on the edge of my bed as I begin to remove my armor, realizing I'd been rather uncomfortable, the armor plating having been biting into my skin.

Lying down once more, I pinched the bridge of my nose as I realized I couldn't continue to stall.

My fingers brushed against my lips as my hand slid down my face, and a fierce blush rushed to my face as memories associated with the body part that was never used for besides talking began surfacing. Instead of fighting back the embarrassing thoughts like I'd normally do in public, I let them rush over me, making me appreciate the fact the rest of my team were at classes. I'd need the privacy if I were going to sift through the jumble that was my brain.

"And here I thought the day I got my first kiss would be amazing." I mumbled, my mind immediately assuring me that I most certainly appreciated the kiss, kisses. Touching my lips once more, I knew my mind wasn't wrong, flashing a sheepish smile to no one.

A flash of red hair went through my head.

 _Pyrrha._ I say mentally, still managing a dreamy voice. My hand shifts to my cheek.

 _Ruby._ Once again, I said this mentally, although it didn't have any tone, and before I could ponder why that was, I flinched.

"Ruby too, almost forgot." I mutter under my breath as I tentatively brush my thumb against my bottom lip.

I lost track of time after a few minutes of deep contemplation, the blur of consciousness and unconsciousness unclear.

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 _Whoosh_

"So then I was like, I think it's clear what we have to do! We break his-Jaune! There you are! Do you have any idea how long we've been looking for you?" The almost obnoxiously loud voice of the Valkyrie herself cried out.

"Ehhhh…no?" Jaune meekly responded, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he got up to address the new occupants of the room. He let out a shrill squeak when he felt his shoulders gripped tightly, the sense of déjà vu going unnoticed as Nora demanded the entirety of his attention.

"It's been days!" She yelled, voice laced with sincerity.

"About an hour." Ren threw in helpfully from his bed, butting into the conversation, much to Nora's distaste.

"We sent out search parties!"

"Team RWBY promised to keep an eye out for you."

"Pyrrha's gone into immense distress."

"…"

The missing rebuttal from his jade clad friend shocked Jaune immensely.

"Ren?" He asked warily, pushing Nora off to the side so he could look at Ren, hoping he would find him busy with some task that wouldn't allow the aura-wielder to speak. He saw no such thing.

"She's not wrong. Last we saw her, she said she had to go be alone for a while." Ren stated with a shrug.

"And you have no idea where she went?" The Blonde asked, dread starting to grow in the pit that called itself his stomach.

"We assumed she meant here." Ren said, sharing a glance with Nora that seemed to say thousands of things, none of which anyone besides the two could ever hope to grasp.

"I uh…I have to…" Jaune started to say, his words jumbling as he started to fumble with his armor, throwing it on out of habit.

"We totally get it." Nora said, backing up and giving the Arc one of her super-duper encouraging thumbs up.

"Don't worry about us, now be on your way." Ren said, giving a much smaller smile, though it was no less encouraging than Nora's overactive attempts.

"Alright…and uh, thanks again for being the best team ever guys." Jaune quickly blurted out, looking back into the room past the door to see gentle smiles plastering both of their faces. He didn't wait for a response, and began walking to where he was certain Pyrrha was with determination in his stride.

 _Whoosh._

"Looks like we got the room all to ourselves Renny." Nora said, her voice getting surprisingly indoor appropriate.

"That we do Nora." Ren stated, laying down on his bed and cracking his neck.

"It'd be foolish of us to not take advantage of the situation."

"Yeah, foolish, totally." Nora could only smile softly as Ren's soft snoring filled the room, tiptoeing over to her bed and grabbing her headphones, not planning on disturbing Renny's sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl, didn't bother to wipe away the tears streaming down her face.

She lied on the ground, having lost the strength or the will to hold her knees to her chest quite a while ago.

Staring at the ever darkening sky, Pyrrha didn't so much as acknowledge the cool wind that bit at her exposed skin. By now, she would've normally been in her dorm, a casual set of clothes normally reserved for the comforts of privacy that were only achieved in her dorm. Nora would be listening to her music, off in her own world while Ren toiled away diligently at an assignment not due for another few days, the redhead herself would probably be striking up small talk with Jau-

She bit back a sob at the thought.

She was a fool, and she knew this. While she was deeply disappointed with herself, she couldn't bring herself to loathe the memory of Jaune's soft lips on her own, even if it jeopardized everything.

In hindsight, it was the rush of all the possibilities returning that had caused her to do the thing that may have, just did, make all of them impossible again. All thoughts of a future, all the awkward dates they'd never stumble through, the glorious moments between themselves, bringing their two worlds together…the occasional but rare thought of marriage…maybe even a child or two, all snuffed out when Jaune Arc died at Mt. Glenn.

So, when Jaune Arc came back into her world, weak and in great danger of leaving it once more, Pyrrha knew she couldn't blame anyone for the spark returning to her heart, turning into a mighty fire that towered over what it had once been not even a full month ago.

Jaune having tip toed around the subject of the kiss with the cutest of blushes on his face the entire evening, Pyrrha was content to be close to the blonde and confront the issue later on when he'd have the chance to recover his strength. With the upmost reluctance, she allowed Ren to lead her out of the room as visiting hours ended, that bitch of a nurse insisting she wasn't allowed to spend the night in the room. After one of the most peaceful rests the redhead had had in weeks, it was only by the slimmest of margins that the more rational side of her brain argued that Jaune would still be there for her after the classes she now found insufferably long.

Except, he wasn't. Although a bit shaken, Pyrrha calmly waited alongside Ren who had called Jaune's nurse, insisting that Jaune had probably been left free to go earlier than expected, that's all. Except, nurse Rita, who herself looked a bit sullen, informed them that Jaune had left of his own volition without any of the staff's permission.

And so began yet another search for Jaune Arc. Only this time, while her thoughts were still plagued by the young man, Pyrrha was _afraid_ she'd find him.

"Did he…leave…because he didn't want to see me?"

She'd done it. She'd finally voiced the thought that had been nibbling at the back of her mind all day, letting it see the light of day as she finally stopped lying to herself.

She received her answer in the response of loud footsteps, before a crash, and mumbling.

Jaune stumbled into sight, glaring at his knee that upon further inspection revealed he'd just tried to tackle the ground, and lost. His face morphed into reluctance as blue eyes met vivid green eyes.

She raised a single, fingers splayed open before she crumbled it into a fist.

Jaune could do nothing but cry out in surprise as he felt himself flying forwards. The speed so high the winds forced him to close his eyes, the last thing he saw was Pyrrha and the quickly approaching edge of the roof behind her.

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 **Hello readers! I'm back! In school… Dear God it's awful, I know, I know. Naw, in all seriousness, school's going great, and now that I have a definitive schedule in my day again, I find forcing myself to write is a lot more easier. So, plenty of angst. If there's one thing I learned from College Fool, it's that short chapters only make angst so much more torturous! Mwahahaha! Now, I'll be writing 1K words every week day, with the perfect schedule saying I publish a chapter every Friday. But, I'll try my best to write more the rest of today and Sunday. So, you may get it earlier. Now, you'll all have seen the new episode of RWBY once the next chapter is up, so you guys can expect** **the same fluff antics here, and while I hate to deviate from canon, things are moving quite a bit quicker here. Sorry about that!**

 **Sadly, I've run into quite the number of technological issues and others with my beta Watson, so it seems things won't work out. If any of you feel you have what it takes to be my beta, I'd be more than glad to talk with you. Pm me if you're interested!**

 **TIME FOR SHOUTOUTS!**

 **What Lurks Beneath, thanks so much for the kind words friend! I'm glad I managed to make things clear despite Jaune's obliviousness. And you're right, Jaune's love live is certainly going to become more, volatile, from this point on Mwahaha… Although, and this'll come up sooner rather than later, who said Pyrrha gave Jaune her first kiss?**

 **Thank you Bellacane16! Glad to see my work in other fics is attracting some attention! I'm glad I was able to show you how much potential Jaune has!**

 **RaXieF, no action bro** **Soon bro, soon. I love Arkos too, but since it's canon, my otp is Lancaster too! If you hadn't guessed…**

 **Sdphantom10, thanks so much! That's what I was shooting for!**

 **Karlos123ify, happy new year to you too buddy! Thanks for being one of those fans who jump at a new chapter when it comes out. Really warms my heart.**

 **Trigunner, Glad you found the story, er, fancy? I liked Kingsman too, great move.**

 **Momijifan Low-Ki, yes, the crush is strong in the Rita. Rest assured Rita, or that bitch nurse as some will soon come to call her, will be involved more in the future.**

 **MIK23LIK, dude you reviewed like a day before the new chapter, you could've been in that one too XD And I hope whatever fort we're talking about stands tall too…Yeah, all of our characters are in for some real up and downs, more downs than up, brace yourself for that.**


	18. How Lucky Can One Guy Be?

**Man, can you guys believe I've forgotten to write a single disclaimer throughout this entire story? All credit obviously goes to our Overlords who'd we'd gladly overthrow a small government for, the nice folks at RoosterTeeth. Also, my heart goes out to Monty, who's probably mid-break dance battle with Jesus, and his family.**

 **Now, that wonderful time for reviewers and their shoutouts! Just wanted to remind y'all you're the life source of Lunar Rose.**

 **Guest- Should've thrown in a number or written in a temporary name, how will I know if you're a repeating reviewer? And sorry to say, the polls for the sword died down a bit, with my personal favorite having won by 4. The sword will be making its debut, don't think I've forgotten about that entire sub-plot…**

 **Sdphantom10- Ruby, getting in trouble with other girls, all the words are there, you just gotta rearrange it and you're on to my whole story there buddy.**

 **ShadowKnight49 Productions- Some reviews worked, others didn't, go figure. And I'm glad to see more people are following in my ways and embracing the voices in their heads, despite their inherent love for fire.**

 **Cheese Queen Kariko- I wouldn't normally use the word normal so liberally, as if it were a normal thing for me to say so normally. Normal. And yes, Pyrrha may have overreacted out of context, but if you look at the story and the utter clusterfuck that are her feelings, Pyrrha was an emotional pipe, her inner emotions slowly freezing and expanding until it all burst out like a glorious leak that managed to ruin my home with a mere 3 inches of water**

 **Karlos1234ify- And I love you when you review about how much you love this story, please keep doing it, you're the reason I write. Yes, you reader. Yeah.**

 **Momijifan Low-Ki- Man, am I going to have so much fun with Rita…if you think SHE was acting like a homewrecker, man, just wait and see.**

 **Garoorar- See? She didn't punch him off the roof. That was just me using my amazing skillz m8 to make things dramatic! ( My shitty writing skills probably made things unclear and many people probably drew their own opinions on what the hell I was trying to portray.)**

 **RaXief- More Lancaster fluff, HAH! Although you totally nailed the hammer on the head when you predicted more Arkos this chapter.**

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Jaune closed his eyes in fear, waiting for the sensation of his skull cracking open on the cement that had been several stories away. He felt a tight pressure on his chest, and he winced away from what he assumed was the sensation of his rib cage opening.

Then, something tickled his nose, and Jaune realized several things at once.

He was no longer flying through the air, he was standing firmly on the roof, and the bone crushing sensation he was still feeling was currently one Pyrrha Nikos hugging him.

He looked down at the crying girl, her hair tickling his nose as there was no height difference between the two with Pyrrha wearing her heels. She looked up at him, not moving away, so they were left with mere centimeters between their noses.

Looking at the Amazonian, with the dab of green mascara having smeared on her face, tear streaks along her cheeks, and admittedly a bit snotty, he was shocked by his following words, though not as much as the girl herself.

"I never tell you how beautiful you are enough, you know that?"

Dabbing at her eyes, Pyrrha found herself speechless, but she gave Jaune a small smile, before hugging him again.

Wrapping his arms around her shoulders reluctantly, Jaune really did try his best to not ruin the moment. But he finally did when he let out a groan of pain.

"Pyrrha, I only just escaped the hospital. Don't get me back in there."

His response came in the form of the hug getting just a bit tighter before he felt the sweet, sweet sensation of his kidneys no longer touching.

"Jaune, why did you leave the hospital?!" The Amazonian asked in a chiding tone, narrowing her eyes, hand on hip while the other pointed the most accusatory of fingers. The lanky blonde's eyes shot open, his jaw hanging open as he tried to think of the best way to avoid getting in trouble.

"I, uh…couldn't wait to see you?"

"Oh, that's uh…wonderful." Pyrrha stuttered out, uncharacteristically flustered as she suddenly find she didn't have the ability to look Jaune in the face.

"Pyrrha, why were you out here?" The Arc asked, his voice straining a bit as he addressed the topic he already had an inkling of.

She continued to keep staring at the ground, and she vehemently shook her head before looking up at Jaune, her sad eyes pleading silently for him to drop the subject.

"Pyrr, you've always been there for me, let me-…" He tried to say as he reached out to her, but she slapped his hands away before going on to wrap herself around his chest plate.

"I wasn't there at Glenn." Her quiet, timid voice squeaked out, barely loud enough to reach his ears. Jaune wrapped his arms around her shoulders more freely this time, not hesitating to pull the girl closer as he felt her weight lean into him, her legs having gone out apparently. They sunk to the floor, the older boy falling until he was sitting on the ground, one hand behind his back keeping them up as the other supported Pyrrha. It went up to wipe away the strands of red hair that Jaune had always admired, revealing the eyes he always found so piercing and confident. He caressed her cheek with his thumb, unaware of the sensations the warm, rugged digit had on the Amazonian.

"But you were, Pyrrha. You were always there with me. If it wasn't for you, for all the training you gave up your time to give me, I would've never made it to Glenn in the first place, much less leave it alive." He said, blue eyes becoming cloudy, as if lost in thought, all while green eyes only seemed to flash through shock, deep joy, then regret, followed by deadly determination.

It was then Pyrrha came to terms with one of the biggest fears she'd had since that day that drove her mad with all sorts of terrible anxieties, the day she felt she had fallen in love. Realizing that while she had been more vulnerable than she could even remember, she was also playing the role of a manipulator. On some deep level, Pyrrha knew Jaune couldn't stand to see anyone - much less her - in pain, knew that he could and probably would do something he normally wouldn't in the heat of a moment, because Jaune Arc, at least the one she thought she knew, was too good of a person. Someone who wore their heart on their sleeve, and _DUST_ did she want him. She justified her reasoning with knowing she'd be wonderful to Jaune. More than caring, and always doing her best for him. All this _terrified_ her, and she refused to acknowledge it all, shoving to the back of her mind and deciding to stick with slow, subtle signs that Jaune would have to interpret and use to decide if _he_ wanted to be with her. Was all, _**this,**_ just a subconscious act? Did it even matter? In the end, it wouldn't, because she'd set things straight with Jaune and let his heart and mind dictate what he wanted.

"Jaune…I…don't even know where to start other than to apologize. I…was rash, and inconsiderate and I know I've been forcing you into things you may have never wanted any part of and for that I'm-…" A finger against her lips stopped her small speech dead in its tracks, along with her heat, that was beating faster than the last couple of times something was trying to tear her apart.

"Hey, you didn't force me in to anything, Pyrrha, you know that." A reassuring smile. A hand grabs hers firmly and he looks away from her. "If anything, you kinda forced yourself _onto_ me…" A cough while horror streaks through the only person on the roof without blonde hair. "Not that I'm complaining or anything…"

The Invincible Girl could only stare, slack jawed as the ever more noticeable blush spreads along all of Jaune's face, who still wasn't looking at her. She changed that quickly, grabbing his face with both her hands, pulling herself up to her knees.

"Pyrrha." The blonde muttered quietly, eyes locked with Pyrrha, who was now facing him with a hesitant smile, doing nothing to try and hide the blush on her face.

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Ruby walked away from their dorms and one Jaune Arc, her face a mix of emotions that were neither happiness nor frustration. She _just was_ , and boy, did being _just was_ hard.

The scythe wielder pushed away the unwelcome emotion she really couldn't explain as she began a light jog to her last class, hoping she'd be able to reach it before too long after the late bell.

While her daring sense of adventure did often lead her to trouble, like that night she took on Roman and his thugs, Ruby often followed rules she was given because she didn't have any urge not to. Unlike Yang, who might break a small rule just for the sake of rebellion mixed in with tantalizing convenience, Ruby knew someone made rules for a reason and since they were there to mostly keep people safe, it was best to try and be friendly and follow them. That being said though, she didn't follow all and every rule to the letter because people were watching them, like a certain Heiress…

While tiny compared to fighting off criminals on their own, throwing herself head first into solo combat with a unknown enemy, and that one time when she was 6 and puked all over Yang's hair, skipping classes was actually the very first time Ruby had broken the rules without a legitimate reason justifying her actions. Like, saving lives or being too young to know many have met their ends at the hands of Yang when hair was involved.

And while she knew that there was absolutely nothing in all of Remant that gave her that astounding joy of having saved a life or successfully defend humanity once again, skipping class to be with Jaune was certainly a close second, even if the joy was a bit different in a way Ruby couldn't quite wrap her head around.

Lost in her unusually deep thoughts, the cape-wearing do-gooder was brought out of her bubble when she realized she'd been staring at large wooden doors for about a minute.

Bashfully smiling as she looked around to assure herself no one had been around to see her have a staring match with the door, Ruby was quick to use her semblance for what she had always known was it's second true purpose; sneaking around.

Dashing to her seat, Ruby kept low to the ground in a stance she wouldn't be able to hold normally without the super speed, holding onto her cape tightly, lest the red fabric fly through the air and announce her presence. Asides from her immediate family and the few friends a much younger Ruby had had back at Patch, no one knew that she could use her semblance without the petals appearing, although at a significant cost of aura that made it not worth bothering with in combat situations. Letting out a small sigh as she took her seat next to a familiar, black-clad friend, Ruby had her eyes glued to the arena, refusing to turn her head to check and see if anyone had seen her, lest they be looking at her and she prove them right.

"Back so soon?" A monotone voice that managed to sound sarcastic almost tickled Ruby's ears with the softness it was muttered with.

"I, I, uh…yeah." The young girl stammered out, flustered as her eyes flickered to the edge of her vision, seeing the smallest of smiles on Blake's face.

"Don't worry, oh, dearest Leader, I'd never defy a direct order from you." The black clad girl said, eyes full of mirth as she continued to watch the 'match' between Yang and some poor sap. Ruby could only blink as she mulled over the words and their meaning before it clicked and her mouth made a big O as she realized what her faunus-in-disguise was alluding to.

"Blake Belladona, I demand you fervently begin to believe you saw nothing." Ruby whispered in a harsh tone, the contradictory grin the young girl was sporting taking away any of the authority her words may have commanded.

"As you wish, oh, exalted one." The ninja managed to reply before Yang sat down in between them, a large grin plastered across her face that was only ever forged in the heat of battle.

The redhead's smile wavered a bit as a wave of anxiety rushed through her. While she was pleasantly surprised to see that Blake would respect her wishes and not push any subject she didn't want to bring up at the moment, she knew Yang would probably do what she'd been doing for almost 16 years now, and that's the opposite of what Blake just did.

"Hey, sis, you did a great job!" Ruby said weakly, her voice cracking from the extreme anxiety she was going through as she tried to keep the truth from Yang, something she had about a hundred and something losing streak going for.

"Thanks, Rubes, but I didn't need you to tell me that! Although, I'd love to hear anything you have to say on the matter, Blake." The busty blonde said, planting an elbow on her knee and then proceeding to plant her cheek in her open palm, choosing to ignore her little sister in order to give her partner her full attention.

"It was an average fight for you." Blake answered with a shrug, raising a single eyebrow as she skimmed the book she didn't have out when chatting with Ruby.

The girl who went ignored had to fight back the pout she wanted to throw at the blonde locks of hair that she was forced into facing as she realized that she had done it. Yang Xiao-Long forgot to ruthlessly interrogate her with efficiency even Weiss could appreciate.

Score: Ruby 1- Life 2

As Ruby pumped her hands in victory, lilac eyes bore into amber ones, asking a million questions without ever uttering a word.

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They walked shoulder to shoulder, having managed to make a fifteen minute trip stretch out into thirty minutes. Finger trips brushing one another seemingly every other step, it was the young man who eventually, and extremely tentatively, reached over slightly to take her hand into his. Both of them wore blushes, and while they both turned away from one another, neither unlocked their hands, and the girl even intertwined their fingers after a few moments.

It was with growing dread that neither would voice out loud, that they finally reached their destination, despite both their efforts to warp space and time to make the moment last just a tad longer.

"We're here." Jaune stated lamely, beginning to reach up with his hand to scratch the back of his head when he felt the unfamiliar weight of a warm, soft to the touch hand.

"That we are." Pyrrha said slowly, almost emphasizing every word as she gave him a soft smile, looking down at their hands before letting go of his.

The blonde returned the smile before turning to face her, getting lost in her eyes and that alluring smile until she let out the cutest of giggles in her hand.

"What's so funny?" He asked, thinking how he needed to hear that sound more often.

"You're blocking the door, Jaune." Pyrrha responded, failing to stop her giggling when he seemed to grow flustered and all but jumped out of the way.

"Sorry!" The lanky boy stammered out.

"Don't be, I'm not. I can't get away with doing this in there anyways." The Champion said as she slowly stepped towards Jaune, getting closer to him than she ever had since a few hours ago, and finding she had certainly gotten used to it rather quickly. Watching his face intently for any signs of so much as reluctance, Pyrrha was rewarded for her caring hesitation with Jaune tilting his head slightly forward, closing the smallest of gaps that had been between them moments ago.

While the kiss was rather chaste and over in what felt like mere heartbeats, both students couldn't help but stare in awe at one another. Their bodies were mere inches from one another, Jaune realized he didn't feel the urge to move away any time soon, and neither did Pyrrha apparently, her lack of action saying it all.

After a few more moments of silence as they caught their breathe, Jaune pulled the Invincible Girl into a hug, his hands wrapping around her back instead of her shoulders, a fact that both teens were very aware of.

"So, am I allotted one of those every night or am I going to have to start some kind of system? Maybe points allotted for killing Grimm? I'd say a Beowolf is worth at least three of these…"

Jaune trailed off, almost yelling out in joy when he saw, and heard, Pyrrha's reaction. More cute giggling, and an even more noticeable tint of blush dusting her cheeks. She caressed his cheek before sauntering to their dorm room, barely opening it before looking over her shoulder and quietly whispering at him.

"You poor fool, I would've settled for far less than a Beowolf."

And with that, the four time Champion of the Mistral Tournament disappears into the shadows of the dorm room, not turning on the light in order to not alert her already slumbering dorm-mates as Jaune only stared stupefied at the spot she had stood.

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Ruby whistled a tune as she all but skipped down the halls, somehow managing to take her sweet time like she had all the time in the world all the while. It was rather merry, and the rest of her team mates could only smile softly at the rather heart-warming scene.

"What's got you in such a great mood sis?" Yang asked her sibling as she pulled her in to a quick noogie, surprised when Ruby just took it with a grin. She let go of her after a few moments, the shock having worn off.

"Oh, life in general." The short girl all but song, giving the busty blonde a tight hug.

"That's… rather vague." Weiss drawled out, giving Ruby an intense gaze as they continued their slow march to the cafeteria.

"Yup." Ruby said nonchalantly as she finally stopped whistling, only to begin humming not ten seconds later. She met Blake's soft gaze and flashed her a beaming smile, one that seemed a bit too knowing, and this certainly didn't go unnoticed.

Slowing her gait down just enough to fall behind the line their team had unconsciously made, Yang looped around Ruby to get beside Blake, taking small steps in front of the faunus in order to force the somber girl into reforming the line with Yang now on the outside beside her. If Weiss or Ruby had noticed, they didn't show it.

"Blake." Yang grunted out, nudging her with an elbow to the side that earned her a glare.

" _Can I help you_?" Belladonna asked with only a bit of genuine venom in her words, still upset that Xiao-Long ever believed it was 'unhealthy' to let her sleep in.

"You most certainly can," The blonde answered jovially with a wink before her face became serious, "but now's neither the time nor place for that. You know what I want to know. So start talking or mewling or whichever you prefer."

"We've been over this, it's not my place to say. You're wonderful for caring, but I assure you that this isn't anything that'll need your intervention. " Blake let out in a frustrated sigh. Yang stopped walking and opened her mouth in order to tell her partner off when it came to matters about her lil' sis when Weiss cut her off.

"We've arrived, do try and keep your petty squabbling to yourselves in public." The involuntarily dubbed Snow Angel cut in, shooting a glare at both girls before nodding back at Blake who had nodded in agreement, before glaring at the back of Yang's head as she made a noncommittal grunt as she walked into the cafeteria.

While no one really had the right to reserve seats at Beacon, an academy full of teenagers could only be so different from the norms, and it failed to exceed this expectation.

Team RWBY always had the third table from the far back of the room in the morning. There was nothing special about the table, besides the fact that Team JNPR had sat there on Day 1 after teams had been made and Ruby demanded they act on the bonds initiation had let them forge.

And as reliable as the sun rising over the horizon every morning, Team JNPR sat at the table. Nora with an ungodly amount of food for her insatiable appetite, Ren with his modest sized salad, Jaune picking at his food that didn't consist of dino-shaped nuggets while he held hands with Pyrr-

"My, oh, my! Blake, I fear the day has finally come. Weiss smothered me in my sleep over her blatant jealously of my bust and I've died and gone to heaven, because I swear I see Vomit Boy holding P-money's hand and he's only got a 2 out of 10 blush." Yang cried out dramatically, throwing her hands down on the table to get right up in the faces of Team JNPR.

"She's not wrong." Blake shrugged, sitting down, before continuing after Weiss' indignant 'Hey!' "They're definitely holding hands. Doesn't mean a thing, look at how often Ren ends up holding Nora."

"Yes, that's obviously the case. And even if it's not, it's neither our business nor place to judge Pyrrha on her, _mistakes._ " Weiss answered with a grimace at Jaune as she sat down, nobody noticing Ruby silently sit beside the white-haired girl.

The tension that hung around the table, and the few around them who were hard at work looking like they weren't hanging off every word, was so thick Jaune could've slashed Crocea Mors through it if he wasn't so occupied with staring at the floor in shame, very much like a girl across the table, though no one noticed that.

Everyone stood up a bit firmer when Pyrrha slammed her hands down on the table, very much so like Yang had been doing, who actually sat down when she realized P-money had a score to settle.

"Listen here, Weiss." The Amazonian said, her polite words and deceivingly soft tone given away by the fierceness in her eyes. Eyes that went wide when she felt a hand on her shoulder, another on her waist.

"I don't think we need to bother them, Pyrrha, let's get going. Ruby, I hope you have a good day." Jaune said with a small smile, completely ignoring Weiss with a coldness that was a bit too similar to a certain older sibling.

The rest of RWBY and JNPR could only watch on in shock as Jaune all but dragged away a hurt looking Pyrrha.

The tension was palpable.

"Why didn't I get a good day?" Blake asked everyone, who realized she'd actually put her book down to pay attention at some point.

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"J-Jaune! Where are you taking me?! What was all _that?!_ Are you just going to let her talk down on you like that? On me?! Do you not want people to know we-…"

Pyrrha's small rant was cut off when Jaune pulled her into a kiss. It was short, shorter than all of them so far, but the mere fact that they were out in the plaza where anyone could see them just made her heart hammer so much more. She didn't even care that no one was out and about that early.

"Pyrrha. Never, ever think that I'd ever be ashamed of being seen with you. Not in a million years would I ever hesitate to show your beauty to the world. Can you understand that?" The Arc asked seriously, having held the redhead at arm's length after pulling away from the kiss.

"I…I…of course. I'm sorry Jaune, I just worried you were…I don't know what I was thinking. I just get so upset when people doubt you like that!" The Amazonian said, anger starting to replace the calming effect Jaune seemed to have on her, now that she was finally over the phase of having her heart flutter whenever she was alone with him.

"You shouldn't, Pyrr, you're only going to run yourself into the ground if you have to start managing my personal life." Jaune retorted quickly, his eagerness to forgive and forget only egging the girl on.

"But that's just it, Jaune! You don't defend yourself! You're so much more than people think of you, I _know_ it, and I used to believe you knew it too. Don't you want to prove yourself to people? To make them know Jaune Arc belongs?" Pyrrha began, pacing back and forth as she released all the pent up anger she had been ready to vent at Weiss. Not all of it earned from her short but bitter words.

"No, at least, not anymore. At first, when I came to Beacon, it was all about proving myself. Proving to the world I could do it, to prove it to my family that I could live up the name, and… to prove to myself all the talk over the years wasn't just that, talk." Jaune said somberly, sitting down on a bench and pulling Pyrrha by the hand to sit beside him. He started stroking his thumb along her palm absent mindedly as seemed to gather his thoughts for a moment, and his partner waited anxiously.

"But, and only having realized this now that I've gotten the chance to think, really think, I already proved it to the only person I ever needed to do it."

Pyrrha's heart started to surge as she realized that all the self-doubt she'd been trying to purge him of all those nights with training weren't in vain.

"And it turns out, it was Pyrrha Nikos. She knew before anyone else, and to this day I have no idea how or even what she saw in little ol' me. But I'm thankful and Monty knows I am, that I did it."

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 **Gah! My Arkos is just reeling in joy, I almost forgot this was a Lancaster fic! I told you guys this story was going to be complicated, and I'm not going to so easily brush away Pyrrha's love for Jaune by having him love someone he's only friendly with and have her find out, only to be heartbroken until she gets over it for some inane reason like Jaune almost dying or yada yada. For those of you who don't see it yet, Ruby likes Jaune, and she really is a child at heart. Combine that with hormonal impulses and a conflicting (not to mention confusing) sense of love being mixed with desire, and oh boy will the drama ensue. Guys, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it will get ugly, and I can't help but grin like the smug bastard I am as I imagine it.**

 **Yet another mile stone is within our grasps people. As of 1:35 a.m, Sunday morning, January 17** **th** **of 2016, we're 5 followers away from 200 followers, and 8 reviews away from a hundred! Dear Lord I never imagined getting to this point before the story hit a 100K words, but man am I thankful you guys deemed this tiny little nugget of a story worth sticking around for. Please review! I make it a point to answer all of you in the reviews, and I know I love nothing more than to see my name in someone's story.**

 **Alright guys, I have a new beta, and this one shows great potential! His name is Fate, and I want everyone to treat him nice. Check out his story, it's about Naruto after the war and my god does it kick fucking ass. It's about the size of Lunar Rose, so if longer stories are your thing, Fate's your man.**

 **Beta's Notes: Hello, I am not expecting anyone to know who I am or why I'm here. I'm simply helping out. If anyone is interested, I am the writer of the Scales of Peace and War on this site and my doors are always open for questions. My…fearless leader here….would like me to answer any questions anyone has. I would like anyone to let me know if you see any blatant error in the story. I'll be sure to make this disappear.**

 **A/N: Hey guys, Fearless Leader here again, and I just want everyone to know I'm starting a counseling-like program where I have the RWBY recipients of your choosing give you life advice! It may be it's own story if it catches enough attention. I'd like all of you to send me your questions through pms (and/or reviews too cause those kickass) to me and Fate. Seriously, send them to both of us, I know it's pointless sending them to Fate but he seriously enjoys having his pm flooded needlessly with the world's troubles…. I wanna fuck with him, help me?**


	19. Throw Stuff At It

" **Throw Stuff at It"**

 **Oh, my Dust guys, let me tell you, how amazed I am at this milestone we've broken. I never imagined reaching this point for another year, and another few hundred thousand words. 100 reviews, over 200 followers, I can't believe it. I want to thank you guys, the readers of course. All the betas I've had help me up until this point, and of course** **Fate, who will hopefully be with me when we reach the next mile stone.**

 **Time For Reviews!**

 **Love It So Far- My hundredth reviewer, and hopefully many more in the future. And no, despite my wants as the GOD DAMNED author, no harems. Lol, in all seriousness, I know things seem a bit grey for Lancaster now, but the first hundred thousand words or so are mostly devoted to the setup of things.**

 **Chaoticchainsoftheriderclass- Puppet Master? Not quite as nice as Fearless Leader, but I'll add it to my growing list of names. I too struggle with my inner wolves named Arkos and Lancaster.**

 **Karlos123ify- Love Triangle indeed! And you're very right! I can guarantee someone, somewhere will in fact be in trouble.**

 **Momijifan Low-Ki –Yeah, Ruby's really not happy with these Arkos moments XD, Weiss really needs a chill-pill (oh shoot me now), and I don't wonder what Yang wanted to talk about with Blake, but then again…**

 **Cheese Queen Kariko- Eh, when you're preparing for a life where you can't expect to see someone again every time they leave, you really can't let things play out, especially when someone doesn't return, but you get a 2** **nd** **chance. And I can't take credit for P-Money, I've seen Yang call Pyrrha that in multiple fanfics, I've no idea where it started. It's just something that fanfiction has done, like replacing God with Monty.**

 **RaXief0- Yeah, suave Jaune, while a rare animal to encounter, is quite the sight. I will spoil things and tell you it's not the sword. I applaud you for standing tall with your ship, even if it's sinking, ada' captain. If you're seeking solace from darkness here, boy oh boy are you in the wrong place. I'm the kind of author who finds killing a character only frees me up to focus more on others…**

 **Garoorar- Yeah, keep waiting for that threesome, maybe update me when it becomes a possibility XD. Yeah, Ruby's not handling things well…if ya pick up on it. I'm glad to see Lancaster has seduced another weak Lancaster fan. To be fair though, all those beside Lancaster are weak…**

 **ShadowKnight49 Productions- Hey! Jaune had a normal life! You know, until the part where he met soon to be Maidens wielding magic and teams of girls who seem to be the Sun when Trouble are all the planets. The mediocre one where nothing happened…too bad that was probably the safer part.**

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"But why do we have to get up so _eeaarrllyy?!_ " Yang cried out half-heartedly, eyes nearly closed as she mechanically brushed her hair with more efficiency than her state would allow her current motor capacity to do.

"Don't be so petty, Xiao-Long, I'm certain there has been times where you'd just barely be _arriving_ home at this hour _._ Besides, Ruby raised a wonderful point. We've become lax with our training recently because of our skill, and…Glenn was a perfect example of that... It's our job to train ourselves to be the best Huntresses possible, so up and at em'." Weiss yelled from her bunk, spinning the dust mechanism in Myrtenaster to ensure it was at the level she demanded of it; perfection.

"I know, I know…" The busty blonde drawled out, grabbing Ember Cecilia and quickly throwing the gauntlets on, shrugging at the Heiress who glared at her.

"I know it may feel pointless, Yang, but we all need to take this seriously. We all failed her that day, but we all know no one regretted it more than you." Blake said quietly from her bed, eyes darting between all of her teammates.

Weiss and Yang both looked away, their eyes seeming to glaze over in thought before Ruby let out a sigh, appearing to be frustrated at just how quickly any mention of the incident still sent her team into such a state.

"Guys, we've been over this. We all could've made better choices back there, but none of yours were the reason any of it happened. Ok? Now, if you still feel like you owe me something, do me a favor and be good to your leader and hurry it up, Team JNPR is probably already there!" The small redhead said with a bit of anxiousness starting to seep into her words.

Ignoring the responses with varying levels of respect, Ruby began pacing the entrance of the room once more, eyes flicking to the clock as everyone continued to prepare for themselves for the long day. No one commented on the fact that the short speech was more than Ruby had spoken over the last week combined. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Uh…hey. Are ya, you know? Ready? Not that I want to rush you or anything! I'm sure you don't need me to remind you that we have to be there by eight, not that you didn't know that already!" The fearless leader of Team JNPR sputtered out.

"Jaune…Jaune…Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled, a smile gracing her face despite it the volume of her words.

"Um, yes?"

"You're doing it again. That thing we talked about. Remember what I've told you, insert yourself."

"Oh, yeah. Insert myself, I can do that. I just…don't want to impose, although we are running late. Not that I blame anyone or-…"

The bumbling Arc's words were cut off with a not-quite quick kiss by the girl clad in armor.

"Huh, that's one way to shut someone up." Nora commented from the background, seeming to think upon her words before a small, hardly noticeable, trace of pink flushed her cheeks and she returned to getting ready with more vigor than the usual amount of 110% effort.

"Now, go get him." Pyrrha whispered after pulling slightly back from the now incredibly focused Jaune. With a gulp, he nodded his head and turned around.

"Ren, as your leader, I demand you get up now. We have a deadline and I need you to make it."

…

After a few moments of tense silence, a very reluctant sigh is heard beneath the pillow currently over Ren's head. Mumbled sounds, that may have at one point been considered a string of sounds with meaning behind them, reached the ears of the room's occupants.

"That's the best you're going to get out of him. Renny really isn't a morning person. You guys go on ahead, I'll be sure we're there on time." Nora stated cheerily, already pushing the couple out the door before waiting on their responses. The door shut quite loudly, and the Valkyrie was the only person around left to see the pillow begin to stir. Its sounds of distress as the hammer-wielding girl began laughing giddily to herself went unheard by the rest of the world.

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"So, you're telling me Ren was the one keeping you all?" Blake asked skeptically, kicking a loose pebble on the ground. The stoic of Team RWBY was bored, times were truly tough.

"Yes, but please don't be too harsh with him. He's usually very aware of the needs of those around him!" Pyrrha let out with a bit of quilt, feeling bad as she realized she may have just gossiped about a friend behind their back.

"Bah! Don't worry about it, P-money! Honestly, I have half a mind to go back and jump into bed with him, if only to catch up on some not really needed beauty rest." Yang mumbled loudly, holding up Messores Anima in the air, just out of reach of Jaune's grasp.

"Where exactly _did_ you get that sword? It goes without saying that real Hunters shouldn't retrieve, trinkets, from their missions Jaune." Weiss said, her eyes narrowing at the black blade the Arc had brought back from their failed escapade at Mt. Glenn.

"Like I told you all before... I just found it on display. I know it was a bit like stealing, but I didn't have Crocea Mors at the time, as embarrassing as it is to admit." Jaune laughed reluctantly, scratching at the back of his head as everyone gave him looks with varying amounts of obvious suspicion.

"It's…not impossible. Were you there, Ruby? When he found the sword?" Blake asked, finally breaking the long silence she'd been in since they'd arrive at the small clearing at the edge of the Emerald Forest.

Jaune sent Ruby a nervous, pleading look as she looked up from the ground to find that she was now the center of everyone's attention. Her sad eyes locked with Jaune, and it unnerved him. All the energetic playfulness that always seemed to be there seemed…dimmed somehow.

"Of course. I did apologize for him, if that helps." She stated simply, her voice rather low. She forced a smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Hey, look! Everyone's here! We can get started now!" Ruby yelled out, pointing at the two newcomers.

"My apologies, everyone, I'm terribly sorry I held you all up." Ren said aloud, meeting everyone's eyes as apologized.

"It's no biggie, as long as we can get started now. So, what are we doing? Team Drills? One on one combat? Indiscriminate Grimm murdering?" Yang asked cheerily, bouncing on the balls of her feet as her words started to psych her up for the upcoming slaughter. She only pouted as Jaune took advantage of the situation and nabbed Messores Anima. He proceeded to walk next to Ruby, before clearing his throat.

"We've decided that we'll mostly be working on Team exercises between all of us. While teams are never paired together, per say, I think we can all agree RWBY and JNPR often find ourselves in trouble together…even if it's usually the former's instigating the problem." Jaune remarked, mumbling the last so only he and Ruby would hear it. Glancing at her from the corners of his eyes, he couldn't help but grin widely at the small tug on her lips.

"Whaddya mean by exercises? Are we going to do trust falls of the cliffs? Blindfold someone and lead through beating a Grimm? Are we all going to sit down and share pancakes?!" Nora screamed from the background, using a voice a few octaves lower than normal in order to remain anonymous, to no avail.

"No, we're thinking more along the lines of those moves we named. Team RWBY has…what were they again?" Jaune asked Ruby.

"Ours were Ice Flower, Ladybug, Freezerburn, Checkmate, and Bumblebee!" The team leader cried out joyfully, while the rest of her team looked away in shame at the questioning glances being sent their way.

"And what about you guys?" Yang asked, shaking her head to throw off her embarrassment.

"We sadly don't have a-…" Ren was in the process of saying when Jaune cut in.

"Flower Power and Arkos!" Jaune screamed aloud, outraged.

This time it was Team RWBY's turn to snicker, and unlike their sister team, they didn't hold back.

"Flower Power? How…how does…bring a flower?" Yang asked in between laughs and coughing fits as she fought for breath.

"At least ours are original…you just shoved names together. No thought what so ever…" Weiss snickered, actually elbowing Blake, who was failing at trying to keep a small smile off her face.

"Hold on now, they're not…bad." Pyrrha tried to reason, only being met with more laughs as even Ruby sent her a smile that said, 'What can you do?'

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Whatever, since everyone knows the plan, I say let's all warm up. Nothing like killing a couple Grimm to really stretch the hamstrings." The lanky Knight remarked loudly, unsheathing Messores Anima and cracking his neck, before proceeding to stand still.

"Uh, I think you forgot the part of the plan where we actually go look for Grimm, you two." Yang said with a hesitant smile.

"Naw, remember when Pyrrha and I took off in the woods for a while?" Jaune asked, ignoring the sneer growing on Weiss' face and the way Blake raised her book higher to obscure her face.

"Tch, yeah, I doubt any of us are as likely to forget it as you are if what I think happened actually did." Yang let out with a laugh, grinning mischievously at the bronze-armor wearing girl whose cheeks gained a slight shade of pink.

"Right you are, Yang!" Jaune yelled, pointing a finger at the buxom blonde, much to the dread of everyone else, who only stared slackjawed as Yang stuttered a bit.

"Wow, didn't think you'd guys be so upfront with us." The golden-haired beauty chuckled, noticing that Pyrrha was pinching the bridge of her nose whilst shaking her head.

"Why wouldn't I? Pyrrha and I went and found the biggest Grimm we could, I absorbed it, and now we wait here while they come to us." The Arc stated casually, waving his hand in the air carelessly as everyone could only share in Pyrrha's frustration and shake their heads in tandem.

"Hold up now, you said you absorbed it?" Blake asked loudly, the confusion in her voice clear.

"Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot to tell you guys about that part." _I might have skimmed that part with Ozpin too, thinking back now._ He thought to himself.

"I assume you're talking about your Semblance and that, light show, then?" Weiss asked, assuming she was on point.

"Uh, yeah. If by light show you guys meant that beam of…energy? I shot out when you arrived, then yeah. It turns out my Semblance lets me absorb, well, Grimm. Or at least, whatever they're made of. It's…really useful actually. But it does have its drawbacks. Although, in this case, it's actually kind of useful."

Yang was about to ask what he meant when a loud crack made them all jump and turn to find the source, noticing the large mass of blackness that fell onto their little clearing. Reverting Crescent Rose back into its compact form, Ruby gave everyone a nod as the Ursa began to dissolve.

"Perfect timing." Jaune mumbled aloud as he walked over to the Ursa. Before anyone could question him, he jabbed the sword into the skull of the creature, a sickening squelch made audible as the blade met no resistance.

"What're you doing, you dolt?!" Weiss cried out indignantly as she verbally expressed the unease it seemed to give everyone besides Ruby, Pyrrha, and Jaune himself.

"Just watch, and you can all ask questions later." The Knight said soothingly, at least as soothingly as possible, considering that the black mist seemed to enshroud him.

"That's…disturbing, to say the least." Ren stated as he observed the corpse of the Ursa dissolve faster than normal, continuing to transform into the ominous mist that seemed to seep into his blonde leader.

"I know, but it gives me… power, is the only way I'd describe it. I think it's kinda like Nora and electricity, and I can use it in several ways, just like her."

This time, two shots clearly rang out. Pyrrha and Ruby gave each other looks before opening fire continuously. The rest could only look on in confusion because they could only see the tree line. What were they firing at?

"One downside, it seems to attract Grimm in hordes, as our two sharpshooters here have noticed by now. Brace yourselves everybody, this is going to be one hell of a warm-up."

What seemed like a legion of Grimm exploded from the forest's edge.

"When did we go back to Mt. Glenn?" Ren asked in dismay, almost tearing up as he brandished Storm Flower.

"Oh, hush you, I'll keep you safe this time!" Nora remarked with a bit too much sincerity.

"Nora, for Dust's sake, I don't-…" Ren was cut off when the Valykrie swooped in and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Ren, go break some legs and stop talking for now. Man, Pyrrha had the right idea."

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"It _ATTRACTS_ Grimm?! What sort of a Semblance is that!?" Weiss yelled out as she stabbed a Beowolf straight in the chest.

"I mean, we saw it could do other things." Yang defended Jaune with a shrug as she broke an Ursa Major's skull into neat little fragments.

"He explained….to us…it makes him…stronger…the more he absorbs." Ren barely managed to squeak out as he opened fire straight into a Boarbatusk before it got the chance to charge at them, tearing it's legs to shreds before he finished it off with a couple more bullets than necessary to the stomach.

"Was…that a Boarbatusk? What's that thing doing in the Emerald Forest?!" Blake yelled out as she used her bow to hold down several Beowolves while Nora methodically obliterated them.

Blake received her answer in the form of a feather. Several, oversized feathers actually. Her eyes widening in realization, Ruby beat her to the punch when she let out a loud scream.

"We have two Nevermores, people!"

"Of course we do." Ren sighed to himself, frowning as Jaune leaped forward to impale a Beowolf, mist obscuring him from view every time he stopped moving, which wasn't often.

"Ok, guys! If we can focus our fire enough on one, we might be able to lure it towards the ruins and take our chances with the strategy we used last time." Ruby yelled out, who had wiped out the last of the Grimm with the help of an acceleration glyph from Weiss.

"Not so quick, we're splitting up again. I have no doubt we could all take one on our own, but the whole point was to train together!" Jaune said even as he took advantage of the lull in battle and earnestly began to absorb as many Grimm as possible before they evaporated away.

"Well, what do you suggest then?!" Weiss asked skeptically.

He looked between them all, a grin spreading on his face as the last of the mist disappeared into him.

"You throw me."

"That's…that's…that's…" Weiss sputtered in anger, only pointing at the Nevermore entire kilometers away in the sky to prove her point.

"Preposterous. They're far too high up for us to reach. And I doubt we'll get one to come down anytime soon. We need to reach higher grounds." Blake began to explain, until she realized Jaune was just…smiling at her. It was unnerving, to say the least.

"What is it?!" She finally yelled, clearly flustered as everyone giggled or chuckled at her semantics.

"You guys, throw me. Everyone, all together. I just need you to get me close. I want to try something."

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Jaune stood there, a few foot off the ground. Balancing on Pyrrha's shield, Jaune looked down to see both of Yang's fists against the shield, Magnhild right between both gauntlets, a yellow acceleration glyph with a black gravity beneath him with a few white ones above for extra thrust, because enough is never enough.

"Jaune, you're barely going to be able to see this thing for a second at these speeds, much less aim any kind of attack at it. What exactly do you plan on doing?" Weiss finally asked, straining to hold her pose as she held the glyphs back.

"Well, it's more impulse than anything." Jaune mumbled.

"You, you can't be serious! Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled from beneath him.

"Oh, come on, I'm kinda winging it here. Do any of you have any faith in me? Ruby, you know I can do this, don't ya?"

The scythe-wielding girl locked eyes with the lanky blonde, flashing him the first genuine smile she'd had in quite a while.

"Launch him."

Nora and Yang gave each other skeptical looks.

"Eh, you're only saying that cause you're so sure I can survive this, huh?" Jaune asked with a chuckle.

"The window is closing, now or never guys." Ruby said, voice flat as she continued to smile almost childishly at Jaune.

"You know, maybe we should just each take a Nevermore. Why fix what isn't broke right? Go ahead and let me down, Nora." Jaune said, crouching as she prepared to launch him. The last thing he saw was Ruby shoot a glance at the two girls below him.

"Good luck, oh, fearless leader!"

The world became a blur. Several of the strangest sensations Jaune had ever felt coursed through his body, making the entire ordeal all the more surreal. Weiss' gravity glyphs made him feel as if he were as light as the air he was currently knifing through. The acceleration glyph gave the already substantial speed he got from the launch, making him feel as though his eyeballs were trying to touch his ankles. As the wind tried to blind Jaune, he pushed through the stinging sensation his aura was dampening and realized that in those few seconds he'd gone through disorientation had cost him. The Nevermore was close enough that he could distinguish every black, nearly glistening feather lining its body.

The Nevermore let out an ear-piercing scream, and Jaune almost heard it over the roar of the wind in his ear. Jaune barely managed to get Messores Anima unsheathed, his arm nearly snapping out of its socket when he moved it back up and the wind decided to assist. As he reached the critical moment of contact, the sword's very tip barely scratched the over-sized hide. It was all he needed.

A sphere of darkness blotted out the sun as Man and Creature of Grimm disappeared into the void.

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 **THEY WILL BLOT OUT THE SUN! Dust, I love Jeremy. Haphapaha! Yup, Jaune's been thinking about his powers, and if you thought it was going to end with shooting out a shitty arc of energy, you thought wrong. Sorry this came out rather late guys, because I really hit a rock here. The only reason you guys read any of this is because Fate, the wonderful one we all know, practically wrote this thing for me. He summed up the entire plot in about, maybe two minutes. Damn, I am envious, but I am ever thankful. Favorite, follow, review!**

 **Fate: Honestly, he's giving me far too much credit. He already had 500 words written before I said anything. I simply thought of things I would do if I were any of them. Once again, let me know if there are any errors that you see.**

 **Anon: Bah, those 500 were shit I threw away after hearing your idea. Now, if you truly want to compromise with me...pretty please let me make Jaune a God and have a harem?**

 **Fate: Only if the check clears and if you do your homework. Personally, I think that is what people want. If I had my way, it probably wouldn't be a full blown harem, but it'd definitely be multi-ship.**

 **Anon: Really? And here I was fucking around. Naw, Jaune's not getting a harem, I only kid. But when you say multi-ship, are you referring to other ships being present besides the main one or the main one having several people?**

 **Fate: I plead the fifth. Besides, Lancaster and Arkos have always been my favorite, yet most conflicting ships. To have one is to deny the other, unless...**

 **Anon: You bit- I'm receiving word I shouldn't swear in order to uphold Rwby's all ages guidelines. Fuck that, give us depressing adult themes and death that leaves the audience in tears, am I right readers?!**

 **Fate: Because you sustain yourself on those tears.**

 **Anon: And the flesh of unborn babies, i'm a bad person, yada yada. You think they care? They're just in it for the story man.**

 **Anyways guys, next chapter will be longer, I promise. I still need people to send in their thoughts on that new story I'd like to make.**

 **Fate: New story? Are you cheating on Lunar Rose?**

 **Anon: Yup! It's kinda like Reacts, but I'd like to think we'd have a modicum of quality not usually present in those shit stories...No offense meant… And let's decide to let the readers decide. Can the two redheads in Jaune's life find it in themselves to share? Give your answers in a review!**

 **Fate: And don't forget, I write my own story for Naruto fans. I actually have some RWBY ideas, but not much more than a few factions, Teams, and Semblances. Feel free to check out that story and or ask me some questions about my ideas.**

 **Anon: Yeah, don't write for RWBY Fate, it's too hard, you should just not bother. By the way, if you could just send me all those ideas ya won't be using anyways, that'd be dandy. And with that, we leave you readers!**


	20. Between A Nevermore and A Hard Place

**Kudos to my amazing beta Fate, who was a story of his own you know guys! Seriously, if you're into Naruto, you have to check this shit out! The stories name is The Scales Of Peace And War.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, yet, but when Fate and I become millionaires one the first things we'll do is buy out Rooster Teeth, 'course we won't change much besides constantly babbling to ourselves about owning RWBY.**

 **Reviews!**

 **Zaegan- Hey man, thanks so much for the multiple reviews! That's totally epic of you and deeply appreciated! As you'll read at one point, Ruby's going to be the only one to repeatedly call our blonde Knight by the loving moniker Vomit Boy, and he calls her Crater Face.**

 **Karlos1234ify- Eternal darkness? Despair? Legitimate drama that would entice readers with deep levels of sophistication? Which fanfiction are you reading, because it's definitely too good to be any of mine XD.**

 **Cheese Queen Kariko- Sheesh! Cut our beloved characters some slack, they know what they're doing. Honestly, i'm amused at such a strong response. I don't mind that it's quite mean to Jaune, who's going to get offended for a fictional character XD, but i like to think i'm at the point my characters are beginning to stir feelings in you precious readers.**

 **Garoorar- Once again, it's be up to the scholars a hundred years from now to wonder if it's Garorar's ineptitude or my admittedly shitty writing skills that cause the confusion. Just read the rest of the chapter buddy, although you did inspire me to start writing omakes!**

 **SHMANDER- Alrighty. *tips hat as I slowly ride away on my horse into the sunset***

 **Momijifan Low-Ki - Very perceptive of you Momi, but arrogance and confidence aren't necessarily the same thing now are they? And no, I never played any of the Final Fantasy's, and once again any similarities are purely coincidental.**

 **RPGPersona- More liked forced-into-a-locked-room-together-time! And yes, Jaune did explain what he know of his semblance to JNPR.**

 **As you all may have noticed, Lunar Rose has a cover now! It was done by a friend of mine, thanks so much Erika! I hope this doesn't deter any of you from drawing your own fanart! I'll promise to use it for a minimum of a week, and maybe keep it permanently if I feel it fits the story better!**

 **I also had another friend of mine, Kylan, make me my profile picture! He used a computer and vectors and all these other words only him and Fate to seem to understand, thanks so much buddy!**

 **Anyways, let's move on to the story.**

 **Fate: For the record, I had to teach him how to convert it into a compatible file. And he shows his thanks by catching a movie instead of working on this chapter. Shameful. Perhaps I should be the writer.**

 **Anon: You suggested an app, you taught no one. And Lunar Rose deserves better than I, true, but it also doesn't deserve an author who has fragments of a sentence. Lol, in all seriousness, I think Fate's a bit envious I got to see Lazer Team, which I had never considered a possibility, but a freaky series of events made it happen. Yeah, as I type this, I'm in a hotel at San Diego. I got here, and thought, "Oh My Dust could I…?" And it turns out, I could. I came on the one day Lazer Team was showing this weekend and I caught the last screening before it sold out!**

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Everyone could only gape at the dark sphere high in the sky. Yang instinctively moved in front of her younger sister, putting herself between the big scary thing and Ruby. The rest of the two groups watched on in fascination as the Nevermore who was beside Jaune before the orb of darkness appeared was now seemingly stuck in the sky. Half of its body seemed to be drawn into the strange phenomenon, and the rest wiggled and attempted to pull itself away. Thin, gleaming muscles stretched as the Nevermore seemed to be ripped apart, the half of its body that wasn't in the orb now freely falling to Remnant as the other half seemed to add mass to darkness.

Then the orb began to crumple into itself, shrinking and shrinking until only a small speck of darkness remained in the sky. The cry of outrage from the second Nevermore, who had momentarily been forgotten, went ignored as the small speck of black began growing larger and larger once again. It wasn't growing, but coming closer to the rapidly approaching ground.

"Move!" Weiss yelled out loud as everyone realized the falling object was heading straight towards them. They all scattered randomly in their mad dash to safety, except for one.

Ruby stared intently, eyes squinting as the blob of black began to take form. With only a small gasp, the young girl aimed Crescent Rose at the ground, placing her feet carefully on parts of the high caliber sniper scythe that wouldn't rip her apart and fired. She flew high into the sky, gaining more and more velocity as the _crack_ of her rifle went off rhythmically. She seemed to be on a direct course with the falling object, and narrowly missed it as they both whizzed by one another.

The question everyone had been asking themselves was answered by Pyrrha.

"It's Jaune!" She cried out in realization.

As the words registered in their heads, Yang realized Ruby's plan mere moments before the small scythe-wielder began to act on it.

Having stopped firing once she had passed Jaune's height, the redhead was quick to fire off her weapon upwards into the sky, now speeding towards to the ground and the unconscious knight, her heart beating not for the fear over the looming death the ground promised, but of the very real possibility that she wouldn't be been able to reach Jaune before the ground did. She realized she wasn't going to make it, and her heat seemed to jump into her throat before an idea struck her and she quickly fumbled with her pouch.

Struggling to slam the ammo clip with familiar cross marks into her deadly baby, Ruby began to fire once more, quickly catching up to Jaune with the immensely bigger speed boost the heavy-hitting bullets offered her.

Ruby actually hit Jaune rather hard, causing her to desperately gasp for the breath that was stolen away from her upon impact. She slipped a small arm around his waist and swung Crescent Rose around his body, so the stock of the weapon was against his chest. His back taking up the entirety of her vision, Ruby pulled the trigger as quickly as she could, her objective in mind being slowing them down enough that they'd _only_ be badly crippled once they hit the hard dirt ground.

Jaune's unconsciousness proved to have at least one upside; he currently couldn't feel what was surely the major pain the recoil would be inflicting on his chest, though Ruby herself didn't have the pleasure of blissful sleep. Her head snapped forward and banged against Jaune's back as some force seemed to slow them considerably, the small cut on her tongue, which she'd accidently bitten, healing so quickly that she _almost_ didn't have the chance to taste the coppery tang she recognized as blood.

The world went a bit black, if only for a moment. Ruby mentally sneered, the color was cool, sure, but she'd seen enough of it for a lifetime and a half.

She thought she heard her name being called out amidst the distressed screams from everyone, but they went unheeded as she realized just how heavy her eyelids were. She barely felt the impact.

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Jaune returned to the world of the living to the strangest of sensations. It felt like...unbridled freedom. There was the gut feeling of pure, impulsive fear, but that was pushed aside to focus more on the feeling his gut was feeling. Which was floating, apparently, and that could only mean one thing. Another of the feelings he'd had the entire time in the short span of consciousness he had was that of something slapping his entire body, and stinging his eyes rather fiercely when he tried to open them. Wind…

Jaune's mind decided to cut off that chain of thought in order to stop certain results that usually led to him expelling vital nutrients he'd yet to completely process. Stinging. Stinging. Stinging. Those were the sensations he felt along his chest. Like the type he felt in his eyes a few moments ago, only more agonizing. And constant. His chest was throbbing in continuous, but dull, pain that never seemed to fade. It did occasionally spike though, and Dust, did they make him feel like something was trying to impale him.

Jaune let out a sigh, though the shrieking wind covered it up so quickly he wasn't even sure if he just thought about sighing and imagined it. Finally putting the magic called aura to good use, the lanky Knight forced his eyes open and fought the urge to blink them shut as pain wracked his eyes for a moment before his aura dimmed the pain to what amounted to a slight pressure. He saw the very pointy points of Crescent Rose pointing right at his chest.

He couldn't believe it, Ruby was going to get him killed, if he didn't die the second he hit the ground. Two things dawned on him at that moment. One, he wasn't _holding_ Crescent Rose. The shaft of the weapon came over his shoulder, and that meant its wielder was right behind him, and he had no doubt the cute redhead didn't hesitate to join him in his short flight. Second of all, the other cute redhead he knew was getting really close now. As both Pyrrha and the death the ground brought grew closer to him, his eyes, through the intense winds terminal velocity wrecked upon them, managed to notice she had lifted her arm. He had the smallest imagination of her throwing her weapon up at him, but something else happened. Something he found odd in his moments of panics.

...Pyrrha was pointing at him.

Then his armor seemed to try and merge with his body, biting painfully into his skin near the edges. She was using her polarity to try and slow them down. Jaune felt something slam into his back plate of armor and he knew Ruby was hurt when Crescent Rose stopped firing. While it along with Pyrrha's efforts had made a significant difference, they just weren't enough. Jaune grabbed Ruby's hand to ensure she'd land on top of him, giving at least a tiny chance that one of them would survive this.

In his final moments, Jaune would've liked to think that he faced death with a straight face; unflinching, even as he came upon that moment every human faced, where nothing but uncertainty lay.

Of course, however, he actually flailed around uselessly, before holding his hands to his face in an effort to shield himself. While he internally panicked about himself, there was still a small portion of his mind that was worrying over the safety of his fellow team leader.

His entirety became focused on one instinct, one that didn't seem to be very present amongst people, but was an impulse Jaune had put up with his entire life. And that was to protect those close to him. Everything went dark, and Jaune hit the ground before he got the chance to realize he never closed his eyes.

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His heart hammered. It almost seemed like that was the pace his pulse always seemed to be on these days.

Jaune gasped, flailing his limbs, or at least attempting to, as he impulsively tried to stretch out in the confining darkness, only to feel that he was trapped.

His heart managed to thump just a little faster.

Breathing became frantic and erratic as disorientation coupled with pure fear numbed the few senses that were still of use. Jaune shivered when he felt a cold breeze on the nape of his neck, and he ceased his struggling in an instant. His first instinct told him it was probably Death, most likely in the form of a Beowolf. He started to calm down when he felt it a second time, and began to flail around once more the third time. Struggling to turn himself in the small space, Jaune grunted as he squirmed, shoved, and struggled until he finally managed to turn around.

"Ruby!" He yelled, surprising even himself with the amount of weakness in his voice. Jaune forced his hands up, skin ripping on his wrists as they caught on armor and fabric, but Jaune barely noticed any of this as all of his attention was on the pale face he couldn't see, but knew was there. He wrangled one arm up and starting to slowly prod along Ruby's face, caressing Ruby's cheeks with his palm after he felt a strong heartbeat for himself. Relief flooded through him, and Jaune began to calm himself now that he'd gotten over his mini-break down.

"Ruby, Ruby, I need you to wake up now. Come on, come on…" The blonde pleaded, more to himself than to her. Not certain on how to wake someone up properly when he couldn't so much as stretch, Jaune began to slap the smaller girl's cheek. It was really more like drumming his fingers along her face, but that was on equal parts the lack of room and lack of will to truly hurt her badly enough to wake her up.

Even so, Jaune smiled like he accomplished something when he felt the redhead begin to stir.

"Hey there, Crater Face." Jaune said shyly, realizing this was the first time he had talked with Ruby, and just her, in quite a while.

"J-Jaune?" The small girl choked out, her fear obvious.

"Yeah. Are you alright?" The lanky blonde asked, his voice timid. Ruby had made an attempt to move in order to get a bit more comfortable, which was to say, doing her best to shimmy a bit until her body wasn't crying out in blatant protest. She was still a far cry from comfy, but it was an improvement.

"Yeah, I think so. Where are w…" The words died on her tongue as something tickled her nose, throwing off her entire train of thought. She moved her arms to scratch it, only to realize they were firmly wedged between her body and Jaune's.

"Sorry, let me try and…" The Arc trailed off, squirming a bit. Ruby realized it was the older boy's nose that was tickling hers. She went very still.

"I uhh…yeah…I'm sorry Rubes, but I'm…stuck." Jaune apologized to the dark, unaware that he and the younger girl were sporting matching blushes.

"It's…fine." She replied, noting how warm her fellow leader's hand was, before beginning to wonder if he could feel how much her face was warming up from embarrassment. And that, funny enough, only lead to her getting warmer, and the process repeating so.

"Ruby, are you sure you're alright? You feel like you're starting to burn up." The blonde asked, managing to shimmy his hand up a bit to feel her forehead, noting it's coolness to her cheek, before involuntarily running his thumb across the girl's forehead. After assuming the squeak she gave out was a yes, he realized his wrist was already cramping up from the awkward position.

"Um…Ruby."

"Yeah, Jaune?"

"I…you know what, never mind." Jaune bumbled out, deciding he'd just tough out the pain for a while and hope his hand just go numb eventually. He sighed and tried moving the hand that was wedged behind his back and the smooth, hard darkness that surrounded them.

While Ruby's presence was helping to calm him, his heart rate would show otherwise since it seemed to spike with every warm breath the cloak-donned girl blew into his skin, he still felt an immense feeling of, not belonging. As strange of a description as it was, Jaune found it was the best one, although it wasn't completely true. It felt like…a part of himself was around them. He could feel it, some of the dark energy slowly but surely returning to him.

While the conditions weren't great, Jaune was still grateful for the new use of his Semblance that he'd discovered in the nick of time. Hopefully, it wouldn't take a life-or-death situation for him to be able to solidify the energy in such a way, but that was a battle for another day, for his most fierce one yet lay before him.

It stung worse than a one on one match between himself and Cardin, was as persistent as Pyrrha was when it came to training, and as irksome as that day where everyone from his team and RWBY tried to stage an intervention for him. Seriously, there was nothing wrong with his blue onesie, nothing! "Arghhh! Damn, Ruby…"

"Yes, Jaune?" She asked with concern lacing her words, and Jaune could practically see the look of worry on her face. And if he leaned in forward just a tad bit, he'd be able to feel it too…

"I…remember that thing I said not to worry about? Well, it's kinda more important than I thought." Jaune stated, finishing a reluctant chuckle, trying to scratch the back of his head, though the quick flare pain that shot through his wrist reminded him of his dilemma.

"Well, spit it out, Jaune, what's the problem?" Ruby asked, a bit of skepticism leaking out into her voice now that she knew the problem wasn't nearly as bad as she imagined it could be if Jaune was laughing about it.

"My hand really hurts like this, and I gotta move it." He said sheepishly.

"Well, move it then." She said like it was the simplest thing in the world, which it was damn near.

"I uhh…I only got the one place to put it. You know…your cheek." He whispered, which she easily heard.

"Oh. Oh! Well, I mean… I wouldn't want you to get hurt over something so little. Not like it means anything, right?" Ruby blurted out meekly, wishing she could put her hands behind her back or twirl her fingers or something!

"Hehe, yeah…it doesn't mean anything." The equally flustered Jaune let out, letting the awkward silence reign supreme as he forgot to move his hand.

"So? Are you …" The redhead trailed off.

"Oh. Oh! Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Ruby, you're the best." Jaune genuinely said as he hesitatingly brought his hand down next to Ruby's face. He kept his fingers splayed forward, not finding the nerve to curve them around Ruby's cheek for the mere sake of the extra comfort it'd offer.

"Just add it to the list of favors you owe me, like saving your life…again." The Scythe-wielder remarked casually as she furrowed her cheek into his hand, hoping to use it as a pillow. Her ploy worked as Jaune impulsively curled his fingers so he ended up caressing her face as he replied.

"Hey! Who _literally_ carried your butt around for like half a trip back at Glenn?!"

"Alright, you got me there...Hey, Jaune? How're you so calm?"

"Well, I can feel this...thing, shrinking. Not around us obviously, but, I think it's slowly dissolving. Ya know, like Grimm. Plus, I have you with me here. As much as I hate to find ourselves in situations like this, there's probably no one I'd rather be with."

"Oh, Jaune! I uh...yeah, me too? I guess that sorta makes sense. But what about the others?" The caped girl asked.

"I...I'm sure they're fine. There was only the one small Nevermore left, I trust they can survive _one_ fight without their leaders."

"Hmm." Ruby simply grunted, and Jaune was reminded of how his once close relationship has seemingly dwindled down to mere acquaintanceship ever since he started dating…

"Ruby, what happened?"

"You don't remember? We threw you at the Neve-…" She began to explain, before fingers brushed her lips.

"That's not what I meant. What happened to us? What we had?"

Her heart caught in her throat.

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 **Ayyyy! That's where we're cutting it off! I'm terribly sorry this is an entire day late guys, but I got swamped with homework and life in general…You guys can blame Fate if it'll make you all feel better. Once again, I want to thank RPGPersona for adding SO many reviews! You, my dear reader, kick ass! So guys, I hear that Valentine's Day is coming up! What's that? Of course I didn't need to ask a friend what day it actually falls on…And I know how I'll reward you all for being such great supporters! I'm going to be writing a Valentine's Day one-shot between Ruby and Jaune! They'll be plenty of awkward bumbling, adorkable fumbles, and sexual innuendoes flying over our lovable introverts heads! I'm thinking it'll be somewhere along 10K words, and a one-shot. I'd really love it if you guys could give it some love and review. My short stories have never gotten much love, and I'm hoping this'll be the exception.**


	21. Out Of The Shadows

Hey, everybody, it's that Anonymous Prick again!

Fate: And myself, I suppose.

Prick: Who else would it be?!

The usual disclaimer: We do not own RWBY, it belongs to the sadists we call Rooster Teeth, they're the true puppet masters.

Prick: So, we finally saw that fight, huh? All thirty seconds of it...yeah. What? Disappointed? Not at all, not at all… Spoilers, shall be plentiful. Goodbye Teams RWBY and JNPR, and hello team JRRN, or Journey! I see what you did there RoosterTeeth, clever girl… As much as Fate hates hearing about it, I mean, come on! Lancaster actually has a chance now, let's all just dwell on that for a moment. Done? Good. Here's chapter 21. I'm sorry it took so long. I was really sick for awhile,life in general decided to take a cue from Fate and be a general ass, and then I got caught up with The First Date and then- What's that? You haven't heard of it? Fate, can you tell the good readers what that's all about?

Fate: Weird, seeing as it was SUPPOSED to be out weeks ago. Anyway… it's a lovely little Lancaster one-shot that I said he should do to apologize for being late and it was slated for Valentine's Day.

Prick: Well, as a co-author, I feel the blame should go to both of us. And honestly, since I was teetering on the brink of death, who's to say who's fault it is for not doing their duty when the time called for it… That's right everybody, Fate's officially a co-author now! If the description didn't use all of its allotted characters, I'd have written it down somewhere!

Anyways, it's time for…

Reviews!

Featuring: Fate!

Fate:

So, my first time doing this.. here we go.

sdphantom10 - Yeah, cliffhangers are a vast legion that expand from horizon to horizon, their mighty halberds and swords at the ready while they all wail in unison. Find out what that legion is here for next time. *Cliffhanger joke*

Cheese Queen Kariko - You get the 'grace' of 'fearless leader' responding.

Prick: Hey, relax! You misunderstood, you think Jaune could ever be so upfront about such a thing. That'd be...mature of him. By the way, readers, what the hell is a halberd?

Fate: I'd tell you, but I see this as a golden opportunity to see if the readers even read these. And to see if they know I exist.

RPGPersona - Oh, yeah, the one-shot…. fearless leader here has a knack for forgetting to sign my name on the _Fate's Ideas_ list. But, I agree. Jaune didn't think over that decision much, did he? I think he would've been fine, though. After all, what foreboding and sinister entity would allow its host to die so easily without reprisal? _Something like that doesn't get to exist without knowing how to survive._

Prick: *Sprays Fate with Holy Water* Hey! None of that! They got you monologing, you fool!

Zaegan - Arkos is a mighty shield that will not shatter by gentle pokes! Unfortunately, I'm literally down the middle between Arkos and Lancaster, so I can safely half oppose and half support your statement. *Goes back to my perpetual internal struggle then watches the finale.* Well…. Fuck. I **was** split evenly..

RaXieF - Yeah, given his track history, you'd be right to assume more drama. And Ruby is stuck between a Jaune and a dark place, find out next time if this is the beginning of a blossoming Rose, or the wilting of a sad Weed. *More Cliffhanger jokes.*

Karlos1234ify - Heartbreak is always around the corner when you learn to feel for another. (He doesn't want me to say the word love.)

Momijifan Low-Ki - Jaune knows how to treat the young maidens; make them risk their lives then ask them one of the most piercing questions. Hopefully things won't get worse, they're at a tipping point; misery and pain on one side, hope and joy on the other, and the young leaders could tip either way.

Prick/Fearless Leader: I refuse to say the L word before I hit at least 100K words… Mostly because the awful fanfics say it in a 1K words, and I'd like to think Lunar Rose is a hundred times better than those fanfics. And the scales aren't tipped towards JUST good and bad, there's bad on both sides. Maybe teeny pockets of not-bad but not happy.

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"W-what?" Ruby squeaked out, the small space suddenly becoming infinitely more cramped around them.

"You heard me, Ruby, I'm serious. What happened to us? We… I liked what we had." Jaune said, the sadness in his voice clear.

"What...what about it do you miss?" The small girl asked, her heating threatening to burst as her mind seemed to be using her Semblance to run a million thoughts in seconds, all the while she tries to fight the rising pit of dread and...dare she say it? _Hope_ , building up in her stomach.

"What do you mean? I missed you...we used to hang out a lot. I know it wasn't all constant laughs and great times, but I just kinda enjoyed...being there, ya know? I thought you felt the same."

"I...missed you, too. I did have fun, just hanging out with your dorky butt. It's just that, well, you got busy. _A lot busier._ " Ruby tried to keep her tone even, for while she wasn't hearing what she wanted, she didn't hear the words she hoped to never hear.

"I… I guess I did, didn't I?" Jaune asked, though it came out more like a statement. The urge to mumble out excuses of the end of the semester weighing down on them all, the spike in homework and projects and life in general, died on his tongue, for he knew that it wasn't true. They were, but some thing or another was always bogging Jaune down in his life, and that had never stopped him from making time for Ruby. No, he knew what she meant.

"Yeah...I'll admit. At first...I had thought...things wouldn't change much." She truly had, and Monty knows she tried to keep things normal. It was actually Yang that pulled her aside one day, when Ruby was ready to skip over to JNPR's dorm to see if Jaune would finally be there this time, and explained things to her. Ruby knew that people spent more time together when they started to date, but Yang was explaining that teens were a bit different. Where adult couples always seemed to be together, they always seemed to be with people, happy to be surrounded by friends. But people their age, they tended to want to be alone, at least, in the beginning. Ruby didn't claim to understand, didn't even try. She found that stupid and defended Jaune, claimed Yang didn't know him like she did. Where she expected Yang to be angry, or condescending, she merely grew sad. With a sigh, Yang merely shook her head and gave a look to Blake and Weiss, who both merely shrugged back. The tall blonde had given up, leaving Ruby to be on her way. No one said anything when she returned five minutes later from her trip to the dorm right across the hallway.

"They, uh, were never supposed to. I guess I got caught up in things myself, didn't I?" Jaune said, his voice soft, though no longer because of their proximity.

"Yeah. I guess you did." Ruby replied back, though not without a healthy pause. The healthy pause soon turned into silence that walked the line between awkward and appropriate. Minutes passed, and it evolved more in a thick, tension-filled silence that threatened to explode if their breathing so much as hitched.

"It...shouldn't be like that. Doesn't have to be." It almost sounded like they were pleading.

"But it...couldn't ever be like what it was? Can it?" Ruby asked, responding to Jaune's remark. This was the moment. If anything was ever there, the answer would be obvious.

"I...think it can."

"What?" She asked, the shock forcing the words out her mouth before she could even consider keeping the surprise out of it.

"I mean, we didn't do anything wrong, right? We...were just friends. Best friends, even. It was like we insisted all those times to everyone, nothing more. I don't see why we couldn't be like that again".

 _...The lie was just as hard to hear as it was to utter..._

"I'd really like that, Jaune... I missed my best friend..." Ruby had to hold back a gasp even as she said the words, but her mind stopped when Jaune brushed his thumb along her cheeks, wiping away the tears she hadn't realized she had shed.

"I did, too, Crater Face. I'll make it a point to make sure that never happens again. But you'll have to help me with that. Will you do it?"

The darkness they'd been trapped in splintered, light shining from the cracks, and Ruby's response was lost to the blinding distraction.

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"Oof." Jaune grunted out as he landed on the ground. Ruby let out a awkwardly cute squeak when she landed on top of him.

The lanky knight could only stare at the bright green grass in front of his eyes, the bold color seeming so foreign to him after having his sight practically taken away from him for...however long they were in the darkness. It was actually getting rather hard to place a finger on the time, it felt like it was on the tip of his tongue, just barely escaping him before a pair of yellow boots took up the entirety of his vision. He felt the weight that was Ruby get pulled off his back a few moments later.

"Slick save there, Jaune, you just barely managed to not kill my little sister." Yang said gruffly as she put her sister aside and picked up the Arc just to end up holding him up in the air by the scruff of his shirt. Red eyes glared at blue and the blonde without their hair on fire found himself without any words.

It ended up being the redhead, more correctly the redheads, that came to the Knight's aid.

"But he did!" They both cried out, Pyrrha from where she stood a few feet away while Ruby didn't hesitate to dash forward and free the Arc from Yang's grasp.

"It...was...she's right." Jaune gasped out, his hand held to this throat as he took a knee for a moment, shooting Yang a smile even as shakily stood up.

"While a bit reckless, your plan did work." Ren remarked, casually stepping into the argument he'd been planning on staying out of. Yang crossed her arms, throwing her head to the side in defiance, though the flames did die down and her eyes were lilac when she finally opened them.

"It didn't, though. I mean, yeah, the Nevermores are dead, but I'd hardly call it a team effort. I guess we worked together on the first one, but we were gone for the second one! That was the whole point for coming out here." Jaune explained, and this time Yang did sneer at him.

"Oh, please! Don't even try to pull that one! We're the _only_ reason your scrawny butt even reached the Nevermore. You can't say we didn't all work to get that done. Honestly, I feel like P-Money and I did the most work…" Yang trailed off as she looked at her fingernails, not noticing the panting Weiss in the background lift a finger to voice her complaints before deciding she still hadn't recovered from the use of so many glyphs and bent back over to try and get her lungs to pull in more oxygen. No one noticed Blake stiffen at Jaune's words either, or the confused look she sent him.

"I...but…"

"She's not _totally_ wrong fearless leader." Nora chimed in, managing to seem dainty as she swung Magnhild around. Looking over at the rest of everyone present, Jaune saw the smiles from Ruby and Pyrrha, or the nod from Ren. He also saw the face Blake was making at him, her eyes displaying the large amount of concentration and thoughts that had to be shooting through her head.

"What did you mean we already-..." The Cat Faunus began to say before another ear-splitting shriek caught all of their attention.

"You guys _still_ haven't taken care of that thing?!" Jaune cried out in disbelief. The only stare of disbelief that was leveled at him that seemed to understand him came from Ruby. Although he did catch sight of a glare from a certain bow-clad girl from his peripheral vision.

"What do you mean? Did you expect us to finish the other one off while you fell?" Weiss asked sarcastically, throwing her hands up dramatically. This caused a snicker to ring through the crowd, who all turned around to look at an embarrassed Ruby trying to hide her grin behind a fist, and failing.

Jaune's jaw dropped in utter confusion until the Scythe-wielder gave him a knowing wink. His mouth formed a firm line as his eyes narrowed at her, trying so hard to convey his questions at her. She apparently had other plans though, as she unsheathed Crescent Rose and slammed into the ground, blade entrenching itself into the surprisingly compact soil.

"Huh, must be coarse...anyways! Come on, team, we have to take that thing out!" The short girl yelled, voice so full of inspiration she could've brokered peace amongst Humanity and the Creatures of Grimm. Negotiations, however, didn't get the chance to begin as a hail of deadly feathers rained down from the sky.

Everyone jumped back, some with the assistance of their weapons or their Semblances. Jaune stumbled a bit as Pyrrha mindlessly used her Semblance to pull him back a bit from a feather that would've no doubt popped his head. He turned to send her an appreciative nod, before looking back to see yet another one looking to pin his chest to the floor before he violently lurched to the side and red petals flooded his world. Groaning as he stood up, he managed to smile at Ruby too while she sent him a thumbs-up. Popping his neck as everyone wordlessly regrouped, Jaune looked to his left and to his right, smiling as he saw a redhead who'd risk her life for him on either side.

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They weren't exactly certain when the second horde of Grimm had arrived. Cinder had decided against sending Mercury and Emerald after the children seemed to gain a bit of leeway against the pitifully small Nevermore. The brunette had nearly waved away Emerald when she reported some students fighting Grimm rather near the academy. She'd decided to humor the poor girl though, who's hitched breathing hinted that the dark-skinned girl had taken off with most haste to inform her, which, granted, was what she was expected to do, she still ought' to be rewarded for it. Cinder wasn't a slave driver, afterall.

Ushering the girl out the door with a suggestive smile and a purr to her voice that promised proper recognition later on, Cinder took out her scroll while she sat down on her bed. She found herself shaking her head in disapproval as she saw Mercury's message, stating the same thing as Sustrai had. It may be more practical, but, being the manipulative woman that she was, she liked to imagine her subordinates struggling and rushing to her beck and call. The thought never failed to arouse compliments from her.

Deciding that the energy needed to chastise the assassin wouldn't be worth it, the dark-haired beauty began cycling through the video feed, trying to find the group of children. It never failed to bring a smile to her face, using her enemies resources to her own advantages. What she saw quickly wiped the content look off her face though.

Her brow furrowed in obvious concentration, and her grip on the scroll tightened as a scowl slowly but surely made its way onto her face. She watched on as that Nikos girl speared through a trio of creatures of Grimm, and that obnoxious red-haired girl utterly devastate two Ursa Majors, but that wasn't what had caught her attention. No, she was watching the little runt of a blonde.

Well, the rather nasty nickname didn't seem to be very accurate at the moment, as the _runt_ just beheaded a Beowolf mid-leap with a flick of the wrist and perfectly maintained his momentum long enough to bash into another Beowolf's skull which ended snapping the Grimm's neck back with a loud crunch.

The name decided to take refuge on the tip of her tongue, and Cinder knew that Jaune, which had taken her a few minutes to remember, only confirmed that the child was no one of any importance as he had not made it onto her list, she explicitly remembered a report saying the blonde could barely stand his ground at the beginning of the year against Grimm or the other students. Yet, here he was, holding the line on his own.

If there was one thing Cinder Fall didn't like, it was surprises. While the rare, pleasant surprise was tolerated, more often than not they just served to add more work or take up even more of her time, something precious that shouldn't be wasted.

She studied his form, noting how his overall posture was improved, his stances firmer and more befitting of a real warrior, and performing feats that only experience garnered. The biggest difference, though, was his sword. While the weapon itself didn't seem to be exceptional in any way, it wasn't the one that came up with the photo Beacon had on record.

Her lips pursing in thought, the woman pushed it to the edge of her mind when a notification beeped from her scroll, alerting her to the fact someone was attempting to use the same security cameras she was using. No doubt the pesky assistant of that _arrogant_ Headmaster.

With only a moment's hesitation, Cinder was quick to tap away onto the small device in her hand, her own security measures producing more than enough "lag" to ensure she had time to finish her admittedly simple handiwork. It took no more than a few taps and a single swipe to paint Crocea Mors onto Messores Anima.

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Jaune let out a half-hearted war cry as he hopped forward, intending to cleave straight through the Boarbastusk's armor. He technically succeeded, as the blade sank into the creature's armor and managed to reach where the brain of the beast would be if it had one. The sword didn't make it all the way through though, and was currently tightly wedged.

A quick pull didn't get the job done, and Jaune would've panicked had he the time to properly react at the Beowolf that was already lunging on him in his moment of weakness.

Swinging his shield into the side of the black-furred foe's face, the blonde managed to deter death for another few seconds. A quick glance at the weapon in the corner of his vision showed that the fallen beast was disintegrating, although not nearly fast enough.

The Beowolf let out a snarl as it charged Jaune, intent on avoiding the Arc's shield this time. It hadn't the chance to even close its maw before the head found itself rolling along the floor, a dash of red fleeting away from it, already taking down yet another creature of Grimm.

"Thanks for the save, Ruby." Jaune remarked coolly as his sword finally came free. Readily throwing himself into the fray, he noticed that the Grimm were once more thinning in number. Dramatically so, since he found there was usually a few seconds between every kill.

Relief and a bit of disappointment both made their way to the the young man's thoughts, though he didn't dwell on it too much. He bashed an Ursa's swinging paw away, rapidly dashing forward and tackling the large adversary to the ground while he impaled it through the chest with Messores Anima.

"Jaune...we...need...to...talk." Ruby said, her concentration wavering as she slaughtered a Grimm with every word.

"Now? It's not really the best of times." He mumbled loudly, doing his best to be heard over the sounds of gunfire the rest of his friends were making. Another swing of his sword, another Grimm Remnant was free of.

"It's about...what happened. You know what I mean. What was _that_?! Jaune, I don't understand, _what did you do_?" The Arc stopped when he heard it. The one thing he himself was very familiar with, though he never expected to see it in anyone else at Beacon. Vulnerability; She was _afraid._

He only let out a groan when he was done rolling, the massive tree trunk called a limb of an Ursa having sent him on his way when he'd idiotically stopped dead in the middle of combat. He hadn't even finished dusting himself off before he heard snickering. His blue eyes looked up to see Blake put one final barrage of bullets into a Boarbatusk's stomach, whom had been flipped over courtesy of Nora.

"At least he's still a dolt." Weiss muttered aloud to everyone, sitting down on the grass without any of the hesitation expected of the Schnee Heiress. The panting suggested she was too tired to give a damn, and that's the conclusion everyone reached.

"That was...quite a training regiment. I would've thought we'd actually make it into the forest, though. At least we won't have to hike back afterwards." Pyrrha remarked, trying to make light of the situation. Despite her even breaths, she had a layer of sweat and her hair had become somewhat disheveled from the hours of battle.

Ren only glared at the Invincible Girl as he took his seat next to Weiss on the ground. He gave Nora a small smile when she patted him on the back, even though she had knocked the little wind he'd gathered out of his lungs.

"I guess everyone's ready to call it quits then, huh? It's been awhile, I guess we could stop for the day." Yang said aloud, her chest heaving as the day's work seemed to take its toll on even her.

"I'm a bit tuckered out, yeah." Jaune responded, stretching languidly. His eyes lazily fluttered open to see everyone staring at him in wonderment.

"A little tuckered out? From all that? You look like you could do it all over again!" Blake said in exasperation, seeming less worn out than most but even she had some wear and tear as she gave the blonde a glare. While Jaune found it unnerving, he didn't begin to get worried until Blake's eyes flickered over to Ruby, and then back to him. Everyone saw the hood-clad girl shoot Jaune a questioning look full of concern, well, everyone but the other redhead. Where everyone else's eyes shot open in terror, Pyrrha bolted to action.

She quickly sprinted past Jaune, throwing him aside with a wave of her hand, using her Semblance, as she leapt up into the air, throwing Milo straight into the Griffin's skull with fierce precision, splattering black mass all over the grass. The beast's body came to a stop as it crashed into the ground with Pyrrha using her Semblance once again to pull Milo back to her almost immediately as she rolled to her feet, leveling it with her shield to a defense stance. Her green eyes spared a momentary glance back with the dead Griffon then another at Jaune and the others before she returned to the sight before her.

"Jaune!" Ruby had dashed over to help Jaune to his feet almost before he even knew he had been moved aside by Pyrrha. He wasn't as shaken as he seemed, but his body still took a moment to gather its bearings. "Jaune, are you alright?"

As soon as Jaune opened his mouth to speak, the area was suddenly filled with a hail of gunfire from his friends and the occasional beam of energy courtesy of Weiss streaking through the sky amidst the bullets. Two large Griffons fell on either side of Ruby and Jaune, screeching and writhing the entire way down where they were quickly crushed by what sounded like Nora's Magnhild hitting bone with enough force to crack the ground.

Ruby quickly helped Jaune to his feet before giving his body a quick glance to see if the Griffon had managed to hit him. She sighed with relief when the knight seemed to look as fine as he was before the attack. However, her moment was ended when Jaune pulled her closer to him with his shield arm, a loud yell escaping his mouth, filling her ears as she heard, and felt, Jaune swing his weapon through the skull of a _Creep_ , incidentally stabbing through half of its body. She didn't know what threw her off more, the grotesque Grimm, or its appearance. Creeps _weren't_ supposed to anywhere near the Emerald Forest, or the surface, for that matter. Ruby was certain the only time she'd seen the Grimm was back at Mt. Glenn. A firm grip on her shoulder brought her back to reality, though, as Jaune dragged her away from the oncoming group of Creeps bursting from the tree line.

No one ever said the thought aloud, but, while most people would've said instinct would have demanded they run away from the monsters that dominated humanity's nightmares, those were the instincts of civilians. No, instead, the group of children spread out into a line. They met the bipedal Grimm head on, striking them down as some seemed to ignore the teams as they sprinted by, the others trying their best to get as much warm flesh into their mouths as possible.

There they stood, JNPR and RWBY, holding the line. It was after only a few, short, minutes did the number of Creeps begin to thin out, the last of them giving their last breaths shortly thereafter. Everyone shared wary glances, surprised at how short the battle was. _They were tired, after all._ While ever thankful for a break, a small part of them knew better than to assume the worst was yet to be had.

Black wings once again filled the skies above and around them as both teams slowly formed into a circle, each adorning a varying expression of fatigue with their backs to one another. Each of them reloaded their weapons and readied themselves for the battle to come when a particularly large Griffon had decided to land near the treeline, crushing the already dissolving bodies of Creep and Griffon alike. Ruby gripped Crescent Rose a bit tighter when she switched back to its scythe form, ready for whatever action to come.

 _But then…_

Then, the ground began to rumble while the flock of Griffons circled above. Dozens upon dozens of Grimm could be heard running through the forest towards them. Blumes of dust had risen above the crimson trees, roars nearly three times as loud, ear splitting, and _savage_ as the previous waves heralded the arrival of this horde.

Weiss lowered Myrtenaster in utter shock while her already weak legs threatened to give way, her eyes wide and breathing heavy from the constant fighting. Ren's eyebrows rose an inch from the coming wave of Grimm. Nora looked over at Ren as if she were about to say something but could only nod when he looked back at her. Pyrrha gritted her teeth and readjusted her stance, her breathing still only mildly labored despite the sweat sliding down her face. Blake's eyes quickly moved around the landscape, taking in _every_ variable she could, especially possible escape routes for her and her friends. Yang just seemed to grow annoyed, her eyes changing color with her hair glowing a few shades brighter. Ruby couldn't help but look off at her fellow leader as she gently bit her lip. She knew the expression he had on face even without being able to see it. She could _feel_ it.

Just like on their way from Mount Glenn, Ruby watched Jaune intently and with concern. After hours of absorbing Grimm after Grimm, Ruby noticed that Jaune had been acting… not necessarily different… he - regardless of the odds against him - had just became…

 _Comfortable._

Jaune could feel more than just the eyes the Grimm that sought to kill him pointed at his being. When he turned his head to look, he found his silver eyed observer had been more focused on him than the massive Griffon that stalked both teams. He could see her expression had been one of concern for him.

"Ruby, I'm fine." He said to himself just loud enough for her to hear it. He then gave her one of his famous smiles before adjusting his stance to one that he had picked up from his training with Pyrrha, his eyes returning to the enemy before them, and the coming storm behind the trees.

The Arc noticed that his breathing was somewhat aberrant and could _really_ feel the weight of his shield. But regardless of that, _he felt fine_.

He spotted Ruby still watching him from his peripheral, could feel her worry. But, regardless of this… _he felt fine._

Even as the large Griffon before he and Ruby extended its terrible wings and clawed the ground with those sharp talons, the others beginning to let out screeches that seemed to shake the the very world itself, even as a swarm of red eyes and bone-white armor could be seen approaching from the trees…

 _Jaune Arc felt fine_.

"We'll be fine, Ruby. I promise."

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Fate: And that was chapter twenty one in all of its glory. We want to apologize for the delay, but Prick had gotten sick and I hadn't actually written anything for the story until this chapter to cover his pace. But now that I'm a co-author as well as a beta, I'll make it my duty to improve the quality of everything because now my name is on the lease. Speaking of which, I actually am the one that wrote the last few hundred words starting at the half of the paragraph with Pyrrha killing the Griffon to the very end. He wrote the Creep part, though. He does a lot more dialogue than I do while I literally had to hold back with details and stuff like that because I was only supposed to do about one hundred words. I also have experience with fights from my hobby as an animator, life as a gamer and. With our powers combined, things will hopefully improve drastically.

Prick: Oh My Oum I'm reading the last few paragraphs along with Readers! Is no else giddy?! Bravo Fate, bravo!

Fate: Thanks, I did most of it while you were asleep. So, with the finale of Volume 3 come and gone, I thought just how things would go in this story once it catches up to that point, which caused me to question and pressure Prick into announcing his plans on the subject.

Prick: Emphasis on pressured...To be honest Readers, I plan on the story (mostly) resolving itself before the end of volume 3. Of course, I will be covering the end, because will play out a bit differently. Now, I'll say it now, nothing will change drastically. You know, experiences make the person, and Jaune and Ruby wouldn't act the same if they were different people. After that, well, I'll just have to wing all of Volume 4 in the second story. What? You thought we'd end it with one? Ha! A story of this caliber can't have its aftermath settled in a mere epilogue!

Fate: Come on, Prick, you have to admit it would be awesome to see how things progress. Imagine how awkward it would be if Jaune asked Ruby out in front of the whole world. Also, we've already jokes about his interactions with Qrow. You can not deny it! These are all just Jaune reasons, imagine everything else.

Prick: The only thing I'll admit is that The First Date will be out at some point in time! I've learned my lesson when it comes to dates… If you adore the fluff that this story had started with, if you want to see cuddling and emotional drama and happy endings (not those, Fate), then you'll want to give it a looksie!

Fate: I'll make sure it will be out by next week, or by the release of chapter 22, readers. Even if I have to bootleg a release for you guys on my profile.


	22. Into the Darkness

**Fate: Welcome back to Lunar Rose, ladies and gentlemen! This is Chapter 22, brought to you by Prick and I. So Prick decided to call me out when I said I could write fights and other things of the nature, so he basically told me to get writing up this chapter. It's rather funny, he didn't know I had stayed up to write so I'm sure he's in for a surprise when he finally wakes up to see the word count. I'll keep a mini journal for you all to see just how much I can write before he notices.**

 **Fate's Log:**

 _ **1:15 PM EST O3/01/16 - I have written well over 1,700 words in just five hours while Prick hasn't checked the document since before I started.**_

 _ **7:56 PM EST 03/01/16 - So, I have just gotten the chance to get back to the document but he still hasn't noticed. It'll be fun to see his reaction to what's been done in less than a day.**_

 _ **8:02 PM EST 03/01/16 - I've been spotted. Abort Operation.**_

 _ **9:11 Pm PST 03/05/16- "My name's Fate, and I have failed my fearless leader, and you, the reader, for not having this out in time. Please do accept my apologies, Anonymousprick3, for the guild of sparkly vampires won't allow me back in with the shame of having let you down on my shoulders."**_

 _ **11:40 AM 03/06/16 Seems I've been compromised.**_

 **Fate: So, Prick will do the reviews this time, and I may add my input, too.**

 **Prick: Hehe, sparkly vampires…**

 **Reviews**

 **With Prick and Fate:**

 **Sdphantom10- Hm, very perceptive of you. You're asking all the right questions, but where's the fun in me answering?**

 **The Shadows of War- Wow, 1) You're a great reviewer! 2) Thanks so much! 3) Thanks so much, here's what's next!**

 **RPGPersona- Indeed there is quite a ways to go. Do mind the gap. And yes, things don't look to pan out well. -1 point for that awful pun though. Cinder does seem to be up to no good. And well...read on.**

 **Karlos1234ify- Yes, yes, heartache, mutual friend-zoning, and lingering feelings. These were all I was trying to convey.**

 **Momijifan Low-Ki - Yeah, but there wouldn't be much of a story if things were fine and dandy and such. And I can't take all the credit anymore, Fate works on this story just as much as I do now, so thank him too.**

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" _We'll be fine, Ruby. I promise."_

Jaune's words rung through Ruby's mind, echoing in her mind like back when they were in the tunnels beneath Mt. Glenn. It was eerie to hear him speak so clearly and confidently. If it weren't for his unyielding stance and the way he had been brandishing that black sword of his, she'd swear he aimed to get himself killed with just how calm he was. But, she had seen him like _this_ before. He survived Glenn like _this_ , he saved her from Glenn like _this_ , and she felt like he could lead them out of this. But he wouldn't be alone.

' _You've come such a long way since we met, Jaune…'_ Ruby thought to herself as a smile found its way on her face. She was scared, exhausted, nervous, and probably a little hungry, but she was fine. Heck, this is what they came for, to work together and train as one team, even if it were a tad much. Ruby had wanted Jaune to take the lead as the leader of this cross-team training, mostly because it was his idea and because she had been afraid of where she stood with him. While they had gotten some great experience and, occasionally, a moment of synchronization, they hadn't exactly been getting any real _collaboration_ training done. But, she was fine now. Despite the sounds she heard from the Grimm approaching, she was fine. She had her friends, she had her promise, _and she had a plan._

"Jaune, remember that Arc attack you did when you first found your Semblance? The cool one with the beam slash?" Ruby asked with some of her usual enthusiasm showing in her voice.

"Huh? Oh, uh… yeah, I remember. Why?"

Ruby couldn't help but smirk at her best friend as he looked over at her. The Grimm may not had been scaring Jaune right now, but a Ruby Rose with that type of smirk was a Ruby with an idea.

"I think you should show it to the others in a few seconds."

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Ozpin had been idly sipping from his mug, his chair turned to face the window of his office as he watched the horizon. While it was once a horizon he could watch without worry, he found that, in recent weeks, the view had been spoiled by the Atlesian air fleet currently over _his_ kingdom. Ironwood had been preparing for the escort mission to transfer Amity Colosseum from the island of Vytal back to Vale, with the festival drawing closer and closer, it was time to ready the stage. James and his ship may had been gone, but his fleet remained over Vale to… _'inspire.'_

The only thing it did, besides leave a bad taste in Ozpin's mouth, was show their enemy their hand. If they hadn't been dealing from the shadows before, they would almost absolutely be doing so now. While Ozpin knew that the fleet was necessary if anything did in fact happen, he felt that it would only serve to escalate the problem and arouse concern. The public opinion was still reeling from the breach, and questions still rose in their minds. Was this assistance from one kingdom to another, the spiteful decision of the Vale Council to take influence from Ozpin, or a sign of what was to come?

Regardless of what people thought, the ships were there to stay until after the 40th Vytal Festival had been concluded, and Ozpin could do nothing but watch the horizon and sip his coffee.

Or so he thought.

Within moments, Ozpin found his office once again visited by the ever enigmatic Bartholomew Oobleck and a very, very annoyed Glynda Goodwitch in tow. With one glance at either of them, particularly Glynda's near boiling rage that had hardly been contained by the Huntress, Ozpin could only assume that whatever was happening, team RWBY was at the epicenter of it all.

"Have you seen the video feed from the Emerald Forest!?" Glynda seethed through gritted, crossing her arms, her hand strangling her riding crop, as Oobleck dashed over to Ozpin with a scroll in hand. Ozpin assumed that Oobleck must've insisted he held her scroll - Ozpin being able to recognize it from pristine condition she kept all of her possessions in - on the way there so she wouldn't snap it in half. Which seemed entirely plausible, given her current demeanor. If looks could kill, which was something Ozpin had seen done before, humanity would be rid of the Grimm twice over from the glare she had.

When Ozpin glanced down at the video, his eyes narrowed, his eyebrows furrowing, for the faintest seconds before they returned to their usual stoic state. He keenly watched, with hard to notice interest in his eyes, as both teams RWBY and JNPR were surrounded by swarms of Beowolves and the usual Grimm that dwelled within the forest. In the video, he saw as each member had torn through the Grimm with efficiency uncommon for most first year Huntsmen-in-training. Judging from how bright it was in the feed, compared to the current evening tint in the sky outside, he knew that this must've been the beginning of whatever was happening.

Pyrrha Nikos had been holding up half of the frontlines between the treelines and the wide formation the teams had found themselves in.

' _Equally spaced should one need assistance, each positioned next to someone that compliments their strengths, and with Mr. Ren, Ms. Schnee, and Ms. Rose all moving between to clean up whatever Grimm that linger in the kill box in the center...'_

It was a good tactic to use, Ozpin noted, but had the flaw of relying on the middle section of Ren, Weiss, and Ruby more than the others likely realized. Weiss Schnee, while highly skilled, had possibly the smallest amount of endurance when it came to prolonged exposure to battle. Ozpin even counted three openings in Yang's section of the formation that Ren had to cover occasionally via gunfire.

' _Ms. Xiao-Long still seems to focus only on what lies before her, rather than what is all around.'_

Beacon's Headmaster was still impressed none the less, finding that the students had greatly improved in such a short amount of time. _'Perhaps they can all make a difference.'_ He was having a moment of pride, as he took an idle sip of his coffee, when something odd caught his attention.

Jaune Arc had just beheaded an Ursa Major with one swing of his sword and still had enough control over his momentum to spin off of his hind leg and slam his shield into the falling head with such accuracy and power, it had knocked over a Boarbatusk that had been charging Weiss Schnee - with Arc never stopping during this as he had managed to kill another two Grimm by violently bisecting both beasts before the heiress had even finished off the vulnerable Boarbatusk with a quick series of deep stabs. This feat seemed to had been overlooked by Glynda and Oobleck as they continued to watch the video along with their Headmaster.

' _Defenses covered, offenses deadly effective… I seem to recall that Mr. Arc had a problem with adapting and simultaneously attacking and guarding himself… quite the achievement, to advance so far, so quickly…'_

"I see our students are stirring up the Grimm of the forest. While I am confident in your decision to alert me, I have to ask why the urgence?" Ozpin asked both of the teachers in the room without looking up at either of them, his eyes remaining to watch the fighting.

"It is not this part that demands your attention. Fast forward to hour five and you shall see the problem." Oobleck blared through his words with about as much speed as usual, his posture shifting as if he himself were pondering something intently.

Ozpin let the video play a little longer at the current pace before skipping ahead to a few minutes into the five hour mark. _'Five hours, impre-'_

Ozpin stopped and stared at the video, his eyebrows actually managing to rise a few millimeters in surprise. There, on the video, Ozpin watched as a _Griffon_ had just been killed by Pyrrha in a rather excellent fashion. After a few more seconds, he placed his mug down onto his desk and cut back to the kill once again and paused the video. When he looked up at Oobleck, he found that the doctor had been muttering to himself various things such as migration, flight patterns, and anything he could remotely think of to justify _that_ being in the Emerald Forest.

 _He couldn't find his reason._

"Something is going on out there, Ozpin. As you know, the Grimm have always been mysterious and occasionally unpredictable, they still would rarely, if ever, travel so far from their habitat unless spurred or provoked."

"And why there, of all places? Why now? Why not during the confusion at the breach? Surely the negativity there must've been enough to attract a flock of Griffons if they were close enough to reside within or near the Emerald Forest." Glynda interjected, her words coming off surprisingly level headed considering that she had been tapping her finger against her weapon the entire time.

"But perhaps that is what drew them this close to the city to begin with? Perhaps they felt the tremors of fear from the incident and began to make their move there but lost interest when the situation was handled." Oobleck seemed to had said that to himself, rather than Goodwitch.

"That could be the case, but… what about the sudden appearance of Creeps? The Griffons could've flown here at a decent pace but Creeps wouldn't be able to make it to the Forest from Mt. Glenn unless they avoided the city all together. Even then, it'd be-"

"Glynda, I need you and team CFVY out into that forest immediately."

Both Professors stopped their debate about the sudden appearance of these reclusive and foreign Grimm that had invaded the nearby forest. Glynda was surprised. Ozpin had rarely ever sent her out to the field. Only incidents of an extreme danger seemed to warrant her deployment, the night she met Ruby only being a coincidence as she was in the area.

"Actually, team CFVY has already been sent on a mission elsewhere and won't return for days."

"Is there any team with at least two year experience available? Preferably a highly combat orientated one with a history fighting…" Ozpin paused a video he had been playing on his own scroll before setting it down on the surface of his desk, sending it to the holographic projector, which displayed the imagine of an expansive black mass, "higher breeds of Grimm…" He finished with a rather saturnine tone, a prominent frown on his face.

Glynda and Bartholomew froze in utter surprise at what was present on the floating screen, their eyes wide for a few moments before they both turned to look at Ozpin, who had returned their looks of shock with one of stern stoicism. He was unwavering both in mind and body even with _that_ being so close to Beacon and Vale.

Now, with her blistering rage much more manageable, Professor Goodwitch adjusted her glasses before pulling her scroll of the desk with a wave of her weapon and back into her free hand. Within a few moments of scrolling, she stumbled across a long list of teams attending Beacon. She then applied the desired filters to see just who was available AND could meet the criteria for this sudden and dangerous mission.

 _There were_ _ **literally**_ _only three options; two second years, one third year, no fourth years._

Aside from being a tad alarmed at the short supply of students of the higher grades, Glynda seemed to stare at one particular team. While she hadn't had the chance to see them in some time, she recounted their exploits in her class whenever they were able to participate.

"Well, team SAND has just returned from a mission just a few days ago. They're a third year team with an extremely high kill count against the Grimm - a full year's worth of a few thousand current kills over CFVY's count, in fact."

She raised an eyebrow at the number of missions they had been deployed abroad. It was nearly as long as the number of days they attended this year. _'I suppose this is a sign of what Ozpin fears, something_ _ **is**_ _happening out there in the world.'_ "They're usually sent out on deep reconnaissance or missions very similar to the one you sent teams RWBY, JNPR, and Professor Port, on; Search and Destroy."

"Ah, yes. SAND would be the best choice that we have available. The alternative would be alerting the Atlesian fleet to this threat, or taking three or more of the staff. Both of which will draw attention from either the populace, students, or from our enemies." Ozpin nodded as he mulled over this particular choice in action.

"Then it is decided, I will take SAND and hurry down over to the Emerald Forest. I'll do what I can with that, but I will try and simply pick up the children and bring them back quickly." Professor Goodwitch had said with a stern glance towards Ozpin and Oobleck before turning towards the elevator and heading out.

"And, Glynda, do be careful." Was the last thing Goodwitch heard before the metal doors closed.

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"Weiss, Nora - _White Lightning!_ " Both team leaders yelled in unison as Jaune swept the leg off of a Creep, using the force of his swing to twist around and raise his shield just in time for Ruby to jump onto it, launching her up with a mighty heave simultaneous with her jumping. Ruby used this boost with her speed, twirling her body into a red vortex with Crescent Rose extended out and dicing through a flock of Griffons, turning the Grimm into meaty ribbons of black and red as rose petals rained down on Jaune - who had been buturing whatever Griffon fell from her attacks and any Creep foolish enough to attempt a charge past him. Once she reached the apex of her climb, Ruby pivoted her body until she was facing the ground, Crescent Rose now in gun form. It took her nearly no time to take aim and begin opening fire upon the Grimm surrounding Weiss and Nora as they were preparing.

"Light up the way, Ice Queen!" Nora yelled out with her usual excitement, easily using Magnhild to shatter the skulls of any Grimm that Ruby either missed or didn't kill fast enough. Her breathing was only mildly hitched as she was working up more sweat with each swing, despite sending a Grimm or two through another - or six.

"Right!" Weiss yelled out as she turned her attention towards Nora, creating a series of Glyphs around the battlefield where the others had been highly engaged. "The path is set up, Nora. Here's the charge." With a rotation of the Dust chamber, Weiss turned Myrtenaster towards the hammer wielder and sent forward whatever lightning based attack she could with her attack.

With an enormous grin, Nora turned towards the surge of lightning and held out her arms so it'd hit her directly in the chest. It was a tad unsettling to watch the girl laugh while being electrocuted. When Weiss saw the way Nora had lost all fatigue and was now hitting the Grimm around her so hard they literally exploded upon impact, she was grateful that Ren had mentioned the mechanics of her Semblance to everyone. While Nora may had just had her tank refilled, Weiss was scraping the bottom of hers and nearly fell forward when Nora sent a tremor through the ground beneath her by launching herself into the air and slammed Magnhild through a large Griffin, sending the creature crashing down and through a few layers of rock.

"Uh, um… good job, Nora... But you didn't use the Glyphs." Weiss panted lightly as she pointed a finger in the direction of the closest of the Glyphs. With an almost eerily chipper grin, Nora turned towards Weiss and held up an index finger.

"Shhh!" Nora continued to grin before she suddenly jumped completely over Weiss and into one of the Glyphs by Ren. If the powered up girl seemed dangerous before, she was a nightmare now since she was now dashing around the entire battlefield, from Glyph to Glyph, smashing, crushing, and pounding everything in her wake while screaming out, "I'M QUEEN OF THE CASTLE!", repeatedly like the Mad Queen of Power she had become.

It was at that moment that Weiss had flashbacks to her clash against Nora in the food fight. She hoped that, should they survive, RWBY and JNPR did not face each other in the Vytal Festival Tournament.

Pyrrha and Blake had been fighting the massive Griffon as it tried to swallow them whole. Each attempt ended with it either making contact with a clone, a hail of gunfire, or Milo's tip slashing its beak away. They both found themselves in front of the mighty creature, its sharp, menacing beak mere feet away. Having quickly learned that the white armor on its hide was far more denser than the majority of the caliber of Grimm they were accustomed to fighting, they'd decided to focus on its wings.

While the tactic of crippling a foe so it couldn't escape was usually limited to prey that the Hunter was certain he could defeat, the duo knew that the massive Grimm wouldn't be running away from them any time soon, and they were at the disadvantage as the creature had control of the ground and the skies. Limiting it to a single battlefield was their best course of action.

The Griffon lurched forward, moving at speeds that just didn't seem possible with its sheer size. It swiped both of its mighty claws simultaneously, intent on piercing both the Huntresses-in-training in one attack, and it was only thanks to years of experience that the two young women launched themselves back the moment they saw the impressive muscles on the beast's hind legs ripple.

The beast let out a roar, making its disappointment known to the world at the lack of warm, sticky flesh on its razor sharp talons. If the act intimidated either one of the girls, they didn't show it. Narrowing her eyes, Blake stared intently at the Griffon, not even giving Yang, who had just shot a Creep's head off mere inches from her back, a second glance.

"Its wings." Was all the bow-wearing girl said in a soft voice. The redheaded Champion still heard her despite the near constant screeching of the Grimm surrounding them, the loud gunshots of Ruby's sniper and Yang's gauntlets, and the loud bangs coming from her own weapon, as the sizzling smoke was emerging from Milo's barrel.

"They're not armored." She replied, her eyes frequently snapping back to the Griffin. Though her aim wouldn't show it, Pyrrha was actually struggling to remain focused on their main enemy as she looked down the barrel of Milo. The dozens of Grimm rushing at her from all sides forced her to subconsciously shift her aim a bit in their direction before snapping back to the Griffin as the random creature of Grimm fell, usually either to Ruby or Yang.

"I'm going for it." Was all the warning the Faunus deemed fit to give her improvised partner as she transformed Gambol Shroud into its pistol form, firing off a barrage of bullets at the giant monstrosity. It was more out of habit than anything, as she knew that her bullets were more than likely to just harmlessly pelt its thick hide. Although, she dared to dream one stray bullet would find its way into an eye socket, as it was a dirty tactic she'd quickly grown to appreciate.

Pyrrha took a knee, following Blake's example and opening fire herself. Unlike the quick, black blur that was rushing towards what most would call certain doom, Pyrrha found the Griffon's beak and focused on hitting this one apparent weak spot, which - while very sturdy and easily capable of handling any number of Dust bullets - was easily used to throw the massive creature off balance from any hard enough hit or shot.

The pair worked in surprisingly effective tandem, and they would've been surprised had they the time to register the fact. Blake was now close enough to see the bulging muscles stretching the taut skin amidst the armor plating, and the stray thought of her _beloved_ teacher Port praising the worthy foe ran through her head. Combining Gambol Shroud back into a single piece, Blake jumped up onto the Griffon's neck just as Pyrrha provided her with the firing cover required so she wouldn't be impaled right away. Lugging the weapon over her shoulder, Blake let out a fierce scream that surprised even herself, tearing through a thick wing, slicing through sinew and thin, hollow bones.

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Further within the forest, a pair of intense red eyes watched the carnage ensue between the students and the other, lesser, forms of Grimm. Despite showing signs of intent and intelligence in its gaze, it showed no sentimentality towards its fallen brethren or fear towards those responsible. What it did show, however, was patience; the patience to allow these creatures to tire themselves out. Then it will come for them.

Then it will kill.

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If there was one thing that stood out among the compendium of things Cinder didn't like, it was unknown variables. They were uncommon and she was fortunate enough to catch most of them before they could fall through the cracks. Most, however, was not all. A few had managed to present themselves and mostly in the form of that girl who fought Roman, found her in the tower, and caused the breach early, Ruby Rose. But, like the intervention of the Huntsman that severed her connection with Amber, they only delayed the inevitable outcome that will befall this kingdom and the rest of Remnant.

There were a few things that Cinder disliked more than unknown variables, one of which was unknown variables that could change her plans overnight. While she was slightly disappointed her glare couldn't set people she was looking at on fire, for she longed to hear their wails of agony and scrunch her nose at the smell of burnt flesh, she was thankful the act didn't happen. Having to dispose of the corpses of the unbearable blonde witch and her merry band of delinquents would've been a bother. Which reminded her, she'd have to do something about the other upper class teams by the time the plan began. They could be problematic.

Cinder's fingers twitched in a combination of fear and excitement, though the dark-haired manipulator quickly noticed and stopped what she considered a rare act of weakness being shown. Beacon had just sent out what could arguably be one of its biggest powerhouse teams. With Goodwitch tagging along, that left the school deliciously... _vulnerable._

With a sigh, Cinder stepped away from the scene, walking away from the bullhead that would inevitably take the group to those pesky children's rescue. Cinder was never very religious, always scoffed at the idea of a higher power dictating her fate, so she quickly shot down the urge to pray for a stormy night full of Nevermores. She laughed at the irony of her choice of words, for she was off to visit her own little caged bird.

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Roman stared lazily at the roof of his cell, cigar sitting idly in between his teeth. He swore to himself as he once more reached for his lighter, cursing for what must've been the seventh time that day over the fact that, out of all things, he forgot to ask the crooked guard for a damned light. Granted, he'd be surprised if the man was idiotic enough to give him something so precious, but not very. A smirk made its way onto his face, however, when he heard the shuffling down the hallway. Yes, a hallway. From what Roman had gathered, Generalissimo Iron-Ass had left to who knows where, the proverbial _who_ most likely being Cinder, and so his humble abode had been upgraded quite a bit. With a cot bolted to the wall, a toilet, and a sink to boot, Roman could finally say his childhood dream had been achieved. Granted, there was a little less tail than he had imagined, but a man pretending to be a prisoner couldn't be a chooser.

Sighing wistfully, Roman cheered himself up with the fact that'd he'd finally get to smoke his cigars once more as he saw the grey uniformed guard step into his field of view. With the usual layout of curves rearranged a bit, but _appealingly_ so.

"Never thought I'd see such a nice body in a uniform, I usually prefer them not in anything at al- Ah… uh, I meant…" Roman visibly stuttered when he noticed the glow from under the female soldier's helmet. It was then he knew who she was.

Cinder removed her helmet, as she always did things, with a slow pace that screamed of sensuality and radiated power. With the grace of a prowling lioness, the amber-eyed beauty let the helmet fall to her feet for the moment.

"Roman, as much as I've missed your.. way with words, now is not the time. The only thing I want to hear from you is what you've told the good general."

"O- of course. I've told him nothing, obviously. He wasn't too concerned with anyone besides myself and my plans until that damned Ozpin and his assistant showed up. That's when they started to ask about you. So far, they don't seem to suspect a thing. That damned little girl, the one in the red, I think she managed to make them connect the dots between your appearance at the CCT and Vale all those months ago." Roman said, having walked over to the bars to stand in front of Cinder. She took the information without giving away a thing, her intense gaze roaming his body.

"Is that so?" Cinder paused a few moments to ponder Roman's words. "It matters not, they've no idea of my identity. Although, this little girl has certainly given you a run for your money, Roman. I expect you to _promptly_ finish her off the next time you see her."

"Of course, I'll make sure of it. But, if I may ask, will when that be exactly?" Roman responded, doing his best to not flinch too badly when her hands reached across the bars to caress his chest. His whole body warmed at her touch, but he wasn't warm and bothered in the way he'd prefer it.

"In time, Roman. You'll know when it's happening. I'm sorry to say you won't be leading the forces when we do strike, though. With all the soldiers you… _sacrificed_ at the Breach, our little movement leader will be leading his men in person."

Roman almost scowled at the thought of missing out on the fun, but another surge of heat that gave him the urge to squirm brought him back to his senses just in time to feel Cinder's fist tightly gripping his shirt, pulling him into the bars with just enough pressure to be uncomfortable. He blinked as he saw her hold up a single finger, before a small, but bright, flame sparked to life above it. He closed his eyes as he saw the finger approaching his face, the close contact with the flame already irritating the skin on his face. After a few moments, though, the uncomfortable heat was replaced with the dry air of the ship he'd come to loathe.

"Continue your part, you'll get to have your fun _soon_." She let the last word drag on as she turned her back to Roman and took her time to pick up her helmet. With a terrifying but simple smile, she looked back at him and pulled the equipment back over her head, covering those amber orbs of hers.

"You have a visitor, by the way, but make it quick." Cinder remarked over her shoulder as she walked away from the dazed Roman, who absent mindedly took a long drag from his newly lit cigar, his tight grip on the cell bars steadying his shaking hands. He cursed himself for that.

He waited a moment, pondering who could be coming when he saw no one emerge from the doorway Cinder had left through. The answer came in the form of two sensations; one being ticklish and the other being pain.

Neo wrapped her hands around Roman's waist, biting his back as high as she could reach, so just a bit below his shoulder blades.

"Ah, fuck, Neo!" The ginger cried out, though he patiently waited for the girl to detach herself before spinning around to face her.

He saw her waggling a finger at him while shaking her head. She only giggled silently as he rolled his eyes, walking her way over to his cot and fiddling with the lining. Roman moved closer to peer over the small woman's shoulder, only to have her hug whatever it was to her chest, out of his sight. Resisting the urge to sigh dramatically, since he really was enjoying Neo's semantics, he walked over to lean on the sink, seeing how the lidless toilet didn't really appeal to him.

Neo spun around to face her incarcerated partner in crime, a big smile on her face as she held her hands behind her back. Roman let a small smile tug at his lips as he saw the small spark of insanity behind those monochromatic eyes he'd learned to be excitingly wary of.

Apparently, having gotten lost in them, Roman was brought out of his stupor when a silver object took up the entirety of his vision. Grabbing the petite woman's wrist so he could push the thing away a bit, he realized it was a lighter. He then let out a deep laugh, standing up to scoop the girl up into his arms, easily lifting her before spinning her around in a circle. He continued to chuckle all the way down even when she climbed up him to put him in a scissor hold and swung her weight to land them on the cot.

They laid there for a few moments as Roman slowly reached for her arms, working his way up to intertwine his fingers to hers before slowly pulling out the lighter. His eyes met Neo's once more.

"Neo…" He drawled on as the small woman remained where she was, perfectly content. A similar touch, a single finger on his lips, Roman got hot and bothered in all the right ways this time. He choose to ignore the beeping sound coming from Neo.

He closed his eyes as he felt Neo's weight shift, before hearing the beeping stop. Leaning forward, he opened his eyes when he was nearly sitting up only to realize Neo was already gone. He swore to himself once more, but a smile came onto his face as he noticed the grey lighter left on his bed.

" _See you again soon."_

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 **Prick: And there's chapter 22! We see the team might be over their heads, reinforcements are on their way, and just how deep my love for Roman's character goes, enough to ship him apparently.**

 **Fate: Let it be known that this guy JUMPED at the chance to do that last scene when I mentioned it. I basically planned it out around some dialogue and even thought of adding in Neo, but he demanded to write it himself. And he did a good job. Totally ship it, too.**

 **Prick: To be fair, I used that one line you wrote.**

 **Fate: You mean the two paragraphs.**

 **Prick: You didn't write two paragraphs. It was like, two lines, tops.**

 **Fate: ANYWAY, that's Chapter 22 in all its glory. I'd like to apologize for both the delay and the fact the Training Arc won't be resolved just yet. First Date - which you should all go read - took precedence for a bit, and I was dreading the thought of introducing my Team SAND before I felt they were perfectly fleshed out; personality and all.**

 **Prick: Don't you anyways me… And what delay? The days are a blur to me, Fate. Life has become monotone, and dull. My only reprieve is writing. Or, in my case, watching youtube videos and rejecting your calls… If you guys want the fluff this story promised and skip the thirty years it'll take to get there then you should definitely check out The First Date. It's also JauneXRuby!**


	23. When Worlds Collide

**Chapter Twenty-Three:** _When Worlds Collide_

 **Fate: I would like to apologize for the immense delay. As the one in charge of planning this chapter, I take all responsibility for it. The truth is that I was incredibly nervous for this chapter. I still am. It didn't help that I ended up literally beta reading fifteen stories in the span of a few weeks while having an anxiety attack over almost getting evicted. I finished all that work or got fired by one of the bigger writers. OCs get more hate than they get love, even if they're well thought out and fit. This is a make or break chapter for me. Because of that, I'll be putting some information down at the bottom to explain some things about SAND, such as their inspirations and themes. It's not mandatory to read, obviously, but I ask you do not pass judgment if you don't even read it.**

 **Prick: I don't see why you're upset… I was the one who ended up writing the majority of what you would work off of. Literally a third of everything… Shit, I could do wonders too if something were to write me a fricken guideline… And you kept volunteering to beta those fucking chapters, knowing full well we had a deadline to meet...**

 **Fate: I've written FAR more than you did in this chapter, but I admit your help was irreplaceable. Prick actually wrote a lot of the guidelines for this, like the ass repeated… never mind. Also, to express my apology to the people that waited, I took it upon myself to basically triple the average chapter length. Some of you will hate that, some of you will love it, but we felt we wanted them out of this fucking forest THIS fucking chapter. And Prick said it was fine because this is the end of this story arc.**

 **Prick: Thank you. That's all I ask for. Anyways, time for reviews!**

 **Fate: By the way, Prick was responsible for the bulk of Dolus's actions and dialogue… That was a mistake, I apologize in advance…**

 **Prick: Yeah, mistake, cause I just won him fan favorite, no doubt.**

 **Reviews**

 **With Fate:**

 **Momijifan Low-Ki: Yeah, there's a reason behind that. And SAND will be actually getting to the battlefield this chapter and I've spent the past few weeks planning these scenes since it'll be the debut of my OCs. Fingers crossed.**

 **RPGPersona: That Scooby Doo reference there.**

 **I was the one that did the Nora scene and it felt as if I were possessed by her will as it just sort of wrote itself…**

 **Yeah, Prick has me doing the bulk of the chapter because SAND is all me. Well, I pressured and guided him to make the fourth member, Dolus. So, they have a lot of similarities. I also had some help from a special group of friends in coming up with team moves and combos, as well as names for said combos. This chapter wouldn't be the same without them. At least the SAND parts.**

 **And, as I stated before in the last chapter, when I pitched the idea and thought of a way to add in Roman into the story, he jumped on it. The Neo thing rose up when I suggested adding her and he started going on and on and on and on and on about how we should have them be a thing. Or at least an implied thing. Since I liked the idea, we sort of ended up arguing over who liked it more and now there may or may not be a mini-series in the works.**

 **Karlos1234ify: We thank you, and the scene where Roman hits on Cinder was basically the only thing I wrote in that whole ending section, the rest was almost all Prick.**

 **NightbringerX: First time my name has ever been mentioned in a review.**

 **Valyrym: Thank you.**

 **Reviews**

 **With Prick:**

 **OrganofFlames: Thanks so much for the compliments, Organ! Fate didn't think the early fights went over so well...asshole. Anyways, you guys should definitely hit up OrganofFlames if you don't already know of is work, he's amazing on a whole different level. If smut's your drug, he's your Guy.**

 **clearorange: Thanks so much! I'm glad the story is finally starting to impress you! And as for the reviews in the chapter, I like to do so because it incentivises people to review, and I love reviews. Plus, I like seeing my own name in stories I like, I figure others do too.**

 **CaptinGrevious: Very few, actually. Literally everyone I personally know were very reluctant to call me so at first. And we hardly ever do puns. But when we do, we go at them hard. Organ knows what I'm talking about.**

 **End Reviews**

 **Prick: I appreciate ya doing that, Nightbringer. I'll give you the cash later, okay?**

 **Disclaimer: RWBY Doesn't Belong to Us. They belong to Rooster Teeth, the ever growing Gods they are.**

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"Ren, on your left!" Yang shouted as the young Huntsman-in-training ducked, allowing her to leap over him and send a devastating punch into the poor Creep. The Grimm hadn't had the time to realize how doomed it was before the blonde brawler sent another hay-maker into its skull, killing it instantly, and sending its body flying back and into a charging wave of more Grimm; likely breaking several of their limbs upon impact.

The stoic's quiet 'thanks' went unheard as he continued to crouch near the ground, showering a smaller Griffon that was charging Yang with a hail of gunfire. Watching the creature of Grimm fall to the ground and promptly disintegrate, Ren was surprised when he saw his blonde savior be sent sprawling at him by the horde of Grimm she had, apparently, only momentarily repelled.

With less than a second to react, the jade clad boy stood up and caught the buxom beauty, securing her around with his right arm and aiming Storm over her left shoulder, haphazardly firing at the ever approaching line of Grimm.

"My hero." Yang joked as she grabbed Ren's hand, giving it a squeeze; and a teasing wink he never saw, as she removed his arm. She promptly moved behind him, allowing him to open fire at maximum efficiency while she quickly slapped on yet another belt of ammo.

"Not good, running low." Yang muttered to herself, a stern frown making its way onto her face as she got ready to leap in front of Ren as soon as he indicated he needed to reload. She watched on as Ren mowed down rows of Creeps, occasionally being forced to focus fire on the small Griffon that would try to sweep down upon them.

He was getting ready to go through the routine once more, with only a handful of bullets bouncing off the armor of the Griffon before the telltale _click_ of an empty chamber informed Yang she was needed.

The Huntress-in-training was already stepping forward, arm reaching out to pull Ren aside before something shocked her into submission. She watched as the magenta-eyed Huntsman holstered his twin guns into his sleeves and leaped forward, intent on meeting the Griffon mid-collision.

In a stunning amount of grace, that now seemed very becoming of him, Ren slammed his palm against the head of the Griffon, firmly pushing against the bone-armor at the top of the beak, his fingers mere inches from a razor-sharp end. Just as quickly as he had reached it, Ren pushed off the now bloated Grimm, which exploded before his feet even touched the ground; though they didn't remain there long, as he was quick to dash forward the second they made contact to engage more Grimm.

Yang watched on in shock as Ren began to quickly cut down the Creeps with the bladed edges on StormFlower, and periodically switched to his Aura to slay a Griffon.

It wasn't until a blur of red sped by her that Yang snapped out of her stupor. With a small nod, the lilac-eyed beauty launched herself forward with an enthusiastic grin, her fist smashing through yet another Creep skull. The Brawler had been subconsciously counting down the last of her bullets.

* * *

Glynda had been impatiently tapping her fingers over her riding crop in its collapsed form. Her anxiety and annoyance stood no chance of hiding and were obvious to the other occupants of the Bullhead that was currently speeding towards to the Emerald Forest. They knew why she was anxious, they felt it, too.

It had been many years since Glynda last fought something like _that._ Teams RWBY and JNPR were being stalked by something they weren't prepared for. Something that _**shouldn't**_ be there, in the forest. Or even this close to Vale, for that matter. The thought caused the Huntress to narrow her eyes at the distant mass of trees that they grew ever closer to.

"Ms. Shiroko, does your team have experience fighting this particular breed of Grimm? I'm familiar with your exploits in the field, but this type Grimm is nothing to sneeze at." Glynda asked with a surprisingly cool tone, attempting to distract herself from the waves of anger she was feeling over how foolish her students had been.

'Ms. Shiroko', or simply Amaterasu to almost everyone else in existence, stood, at 5'0", across from Goodwitch, chewing on her lip and fiddling with her pack's thrusters. The Huntress-in-training had waist length, silky, golden blonde hair that had been loosely tied with a single red ribbon so it wouldn't get in her way in the coming battle. Her round face had been framed by thick, shoulder length bangs. On her head was an interesting visor that had been lowered over her eyes, blocking her bright white-gold eyes from the world while her giving her access to a useful Heads-Up-Display to assist her in the middle of combat - such as acting as a quick access to her Scroll. She was adorned in her battle attire, which featured a tight black shirt with white sun designs under her bright, golden trimmed, kimono top with wrist guards, and a light Tatami Gusoku chestguard to top off her upper body. She wore a white hakama with a red obi and her symbol, which was a simple white sun with rays of light illuminating from it, placed around her lower back.

"A few months back, while on a mission to clear as much Grimm as we could for a nearby town, we stumbled across one of them that had been either abandoned or had fallen behind the rest of them." Amaterasu paused for a moment after a low humming noise had begun emanating from the pack in her hands. She then gave a small sigh before sliding the pack into place on her upper back and between her shoulderblades. "We stalked it for a number of hours before we got the order to engage. It was a hard fought battle, one that we definitely didn't walk away from unscratched, but we managed to kill the Grimm."

"After that, Susano'o and Nyx over here had the bright idea that we should actually train to fight those things…" Dolus - who had been idly shuffling through a few decks of cards and sliding them up the sleeve of his coat as if they were bullets - pitched in with an obviously exaggerated sigh. He had been leaning against the wall closest to the cockpit, clad in the closest thing to combat gear he had; a long, worn, and tattered black trench coat with azure lining along the seams, pockets, and inside. The cloth of the coat had been modified by the previous owner to act as a Dust resilient armor while the inside actually had lightweight armor plates along vital areas, which was added by the previous owner _before_ said previous owner.

"While I don't endorse a single team to ever try and challenge one of these monsters, I suppose it's still useful to train for such a thing." Glynda said, earning a wide and gracious smile from the leader standing across from her.

"Thank you, Professor!"

"Please don't encourage them…" Dolus mumbled aloud to himself with telltale signs of a sigh lacing his words. Had it not been from the way Susano'o turned his glare towards him, the coat clad Huntsman-in-training wouldn't have hesitated to vocalize his disdain for _mandatory_ 'creative' team training. _'I'd never hear the end of it.'_

While he appreciated the thought, he really did, Dolus wasn't exactly happy to needlessly wake up early every morning - already being exhausted from a mission or a long day -, risk his life by walking around aimlessly until a Grimm attacked, then hold it down just so the others could test out new ways to kill them. _Crush them, shoot them, stab them, slice them, blow them up._ There were only so many creative ways to kill a Grimm before it simply became redundant or overkill. The only thing that peeved him a bit more about his team's unhealthy training habits with soulless creatures was whenever they wanted to test moves on a different target; him. The young man honestly felt a tad abused and dehumanized to a walking practice dummy just because of his Semblance.

"It's not much use unless we actually get to use our training. After all, how would we know if we were underestimating the threat unless we got to fight it again?" The large student, who had been taking up much of the wall next to Goodwitch, said. The young man was massive, standing at 7'3", with a build that drifted very slightly more towards the muscular than the lean side, no doubt to maintain a near balance of power and speed. He had long ashen hair that rested at shoulder length and had been swept back for the impending battle. Along his lower back rested an extensive tsurugi with a grey blade, golden hilt, and a longer black sheath with his symbol near the hilt. Susano'o Ameko, twin brother of Amaterasu Shiroko, and the unofficially dubbed powerhouse of his team. "Wouldn't you agree, Professor?"

"Yes, wouldn't you agree, _Glynda_?" Dolus quickly interjected with the faintest of grins on his face.

Hearing her own first name being being so casually said by a student sent shivers down her body in a not so pleasant way as her sharp eyes drilled into the young man sitting next to her. While she could think of many choice words to describe the Huntsman-in-training right now, she had to admit she was impressed that he had been mostly unfazed by her death glares that typically sent chills down the backs of her students.

Glynda's look may have not caused Dolus to waver, but the combined might from the looks of Glynda _and_ the the related half of his team was enough to make him hold up his arms in defeat. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and flicked his wrist back to reveal another deck of his cards that had been in need of sorting out and loading with his Aura. "Countless missions, training marathons, and other bullshit, yet I'm not allowed to have some damn fun…" Dolus mumbled to himself, just loud enough for the others to hear him rambling but not his words as he continued the convoluted task of placing certain cards in certain sleeves or internal pocket within his coat.

"Perhaps you should try and get a different source of entertainment besides testing Professor Goodwitch's patience or etiquette to not throw you completely out that door?" Nyx Umbra piped up. She had been leaning over the edge of the Bullhead with one of her weapons - a jetblack xiphos with a chain attached to her golden wrist guard - stabbed into the floor to keep her from falling over, as she watched the trees pass by beneath her. The wind had been blowing her black hair about, occasionally blocking her equally black eyes.

"If you're going to speak to me, at least come back inside of the damned Bullhead. Susano'o looks more paranoid than usual, he probably thinks that you're placing bombs or something down there." Dolus chuckled lightly at his friend's expense at his partner's antics. Susano'o's low growl proved Dolus's prodding was somewhat effective. "Honestly, I welcome the bombs by this point, maybe they'd break the ice in here and we'll all stop acting as if we're waiting for a will to be read or something."

Despite the words being unspoken, the rest of Team SAND knew the reasons behind Nyx's rather eccentric placement in the airship was partly because of Professor Goodwitch and the fact that _she_ was down there somewhere, in that sea of green. Glynda may not have realized it, but her presence was a tad awkward for Nyx only because the last time they had seen each other, Nyx had sent Team CTRS to the infirmary by not exactly stopping her match against them when their Auras reached the red. It's hard to resist being somewhat embarrassed while you're telekinetically pinned to the floor in front of the entire class, after all.

She would lie and say that she had no intention to do that, but she knew she did and was not hiding it. It was only natural to treat those with content when they did the same to others, after all. Nyx, however, did view it as a mistake on her part to not hold back when she clearly had the advantage. In the young woman's defense, she had been trained to never show her enemies any weakness unless it was part of a plan. It was why she had always been considered a rather terrifying force in battle, and why she once held the record of _three_ time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament, before a certain fellow student managed to break her record. The very same student Nyx and her team were on their way to help.

* * *

Jaune let out a grunt as he dug Messores Anima out of the Griffon's mouth. He watched a Creep speeding towards him, eyes glancing between it and the black mist seeping from the decomposing Grimm.

"I need a hand here!" Jaune yelled out, gritting his teeth as he realized he wouldn't have enough time, and no one was coming anytime soon. The last time he had seen Pyrrha and Blake had been when they engaged the massive Griffon, Ren was holding the line with Yang and Ruby. Nora was all over the place, and all the blonde had seen of Weiss were the glyphs she cast for Nora and the occasional fireball that shot by him.

Much to the young Arc's shock, a white streak rushed to his side and pierced the Creep's body just as he had begun to pull Messores Anima out of the Griffon.

"Weiss?" Jaune asked, a bit surprised to see the scarred Heiress right up in the front lines with him.

"Arc." She acknowledged with a slight smile, pulling Myrtenaster out of the Creep, not bothering to flick off the Grimm ichor that dripped off of the metal.

"We need you to use your… _Semblance_ again." Weiss continued, although Jaune didn't get the chance to ponder why she emphasized the word Semblance so heavily.

"You're right, give me _ooonne_ second… okay, I'm ready." The blonde stated, moving his blade back to his side now that he had completely absorbed the Grimm. His eyes darted around, assuring that no one would be caught up in what he was about to do.

"Step back." He warned Weiss, although the pony-tail haired girl had already done just that. With a smile, the Arc stabbed his blade into the ground, pouring almost everything he had into the attack, leaving him with the bare minimum needed to continue fighting.

Dark nubs suddenly protruded from the ground at his feet, breaking through the soil with ease. They didn't sit inert for long as they began to quickly surge forward. They hardly looked imposing, as they appeared as dark, thin, blunt sticks barely an inch high, though they seemed to make a grid pattern as they all connected to the next nub at a seemingly random point. That was, until they reached a Griffon who had made the mistake of leaving the safety of the air.

Its padded paw hitting a small bump was the last sensation the creature felt, if it were ever even capable of processing pain, as the nub expanded to form a spike, growing exponentially, even as it forced itself through the flesh of the small Griffon. The creature was dead in an instant, but the spike propped its body; a grim display of Jaune's newfound power. Spikes protruded menacingly from the carcass, propelling themselves forward into any Creep unlucky enough to run near it. The vicious cycle continued; countless Creeps, and a handful of Griffons, falling to either the fatal nubs or the death traps that were their brothers.

Jaune had cut a vicious swathe of utter destruction in front of him, smiting Grimm as far as the eye could see. He pulled Messores Anima out of the ground, his muscles seemingly screaming in protest as he performed the relatively easy task. He clicked his tongue against his teeth in disappointment, even as Weiss slowly walked over to him, mouth agape in awe, despite having seen Jaune do the same earlier; though that time he'd killed all the Grimm in sight, and then some.

"Amazing…" Weiss trailed, quickly rushing to Jaune's side as he fell to a kneeling position.

"I've seen better." The blonde muttered, a bit surprised when he felt Weiss slip beneath his shoulder and doing her best to try and lift him. 'Finally got her in my arms, only had to face a horde of Grimm for it.' He joked to himself, his inner voice laced with sarcasm.

"You also didn't drop dead last time, dolt."

"Fair enough. I… just... need a minute." Jaune managed to pant out before Weiss shoved him to the side.

He watched as the Heiress pulled Myrtenaster back, the sleek weapon poised to stab into a Griffon's thick armor. Her arm shot forward, the tip of the weapon hitting the armor dead-on, before scraping off to side. Jaune watched on in horror as the Grimm arched its front paws forward, claws moving back in order to cleave straight the pale Schnee.

He reached out to her, instinct dictating his actions even as the rational side of his brain told him the action was utterly futile. That's why even Jaune was surprised when a black spike shot forward from his arm.

* * *

Jaune watched on in shock as the small spike, hardly the size of a toothpick, flew at the Grimm. The tiny thing seemed to disappear against the black skin of the Griffon until it nearly reached the bone-white armor before it, surprisingly, penetrated the armor.

Hairline cracks began to spread around the entry point, the shock of the small projectile having not bounced off harmlessly was quickly eclipsed by the larger than usual spikes that instantly ripped the Griffon apart from the inside, spreading its black ichor all along the forest and the flabbergasted face of Weiss. They both stood there for a moment, neither saying a word as they absorbed what they saw, and what nearly happened.

Weiss turned to Jaune, her eyes wide, the shock evidently having yet to wear off. He merely grinned at her, basking in her amazement, before crying out in harsh pain and falling down into the ground face first. The Heiress quickly snapped herself out of the daze and shot over to him, flipping him over.

"You insolent… are you alright?! What's wrong?!" Weiss asked him, her tone clipped. She racked his body for any signs of injury or abnormality, finding none only a few moments later. She couldn't understand what was wrong. Jaune then let out a strained groan, before grasping her hand tightly.

"I'm...fine. Still have… plenty of Aura." The blonde explained feebly, slowly pushing her hand away as he turned onto his side.

"Then what's wrong?" She questioned, her voice coming out shrill, obviously frustrated. Which, given the conditions, seemed justified. Weiss had been skeptical of the training outing with JNPR from the beginning, but her leader had seemed adamant on the subject. So, not only was her meticulously planned Saturday stolen right from her, but what had been meant to be a simple training day had turned into a fight for her life against a seemingly ceaseless horde of Grimm.

"Just… need a breather." Jaune muttered aloud, closing his eyes as he lay down on the dirt floor.

"There's no time." The white haired girl remarked, though she leaned heavily against Myrtenaster, suggesting she wouldn't mind a break herself.

"Of course there-" The Arc was cut off by the loud, guttural screech of a large Grimm. He turned his head as best as he could to see Blake just jumping off the back of the humongous Griffon he had forgotten about a ways back. He then turned back to see Weiss giving him a look.

"Jaune…" She trailed off disapprovingly.

"What? I'm getting up… I'm getting up." Jaune grumbled as his muscles ached in protest, causing him to grit his teeth as he tried to power through it. He had been sore all over despite not actually taking too much damage. In fact, he hadn't been hit much at all their entire time there. Jaune would chalk it up as Aura exertion had it not been for the fact that he was fine not even a few minutes ago.

"Take a break. You're out of Dust, and we can handle this. You've done more than enough." The young Arc told her. He flashed her one of his trademark smiles as he gripped Messores Anima and began running towards the rest of the group, not waiting for a response from the Heiress as she fumed. He knew she'd follow him in a few moments, once she caught her own breath, but hopefully the tide would change when this particular Griffon was dead.

It was arguably the toughest Grimm that either of these teams had faced; being a little smaller than the Nevermore that RWBY fought, and as durable as the Deathstalker that JNPR clashed against, though it made up for that slight size difference in its ferocity, longer limbs, sharper talons, and its ability to battle on the ground as well as in the air. However, it had been grounded when it lost one of its wings, limiting the beast to only one field of combat. While that did increase its mobility, Jaune understood that the weight gap wouldn't be an easy thing for the beast to adapt to. That wasn't even including the change it had on the massive Grimm's balance. All of these factors gave them the advantage in nearly every way, thus making the crippled monster easier to kill. And with its death, the rest of the scattered Creeps and Griffons would be dealt with easily enough, at least that's what the young Arc thought to himself.

Jaune saw Ruby follow up Blake's previous attack and sliced off the second wing of the Griffon just as Yang and Ren had joined Pyrrha in providing cover fire. He smiled to himself in relief when he saw that the creature still seemed to be severely unbalanced without its other wing, even being disorientated as the hail of bullets from the combined forces of both teams had been pushing it back. The Knight arrived tentatively beside both Pyrrha and Ruby and assumed an offensive stance, but quickly felt a bit embarrassed at the realization that he had almost nothing good to offer. He didn't think he had it in himself to conjure up another spike, though that implied he knew how to, and he wasn't going to throw his sword at the bleeding abomination and hope it did anything. Jaune was absolutely certain he couldn't go off and hit the Griffon up close, not without being ripped to shreds by the bullets of his friends or crushed by the beast.

* * *

"Don't let up! We're taking it down!" Ruby screamed, her excitement spurring her to keep up the arduous task of firing Crescent Rose, which she had stabbed into the ground in its scythe form to use it as a mono-pod to assist her at staying in place when she fired each shot. It totally had nothing to do with the fact that her legs felt like jelly and she had actually been running a bit low on Aura from pushing her Semblance around more than she truly needed to. Not many had known this, but she couldn't just use her Semblance at every drop of a lien; she actually had to concentrate and focus her Aura. Because of that, she typically relied off of the recoil of her weapon to boost her around when she hadn't the time or chance to focus.

Even with her Aura being a bit low, she still thought that today had went surprisingly well, despite all of the constant danger and surprises that presented themselves at every turn. They had finally made progress with their initial goal of team building and teamwork with whoever they found themselves fighting with. Yang and Ren, Pyrrha and Blake, Weiss and Nora, and she and Jaune had all had some spectacular kills today, even if the edges were still a bit rough. RWBY didn't start off as in tandem as it was now and just because JNPR lacked any of the cool power moves or team combos, that didn't mean they were any less a formidable team.

"Just a little bit more!" The young Reaper could already imagine what it'd be like later at Beacon when they could actually talk about planned moves in the future, or even tomorrow, since she was sure to dream up ways that she and the others, especially Jaune, could work together. And because of the great experience and all the possibilities and ideas this put into her mind, Ruby Rose could easily call this a good day.

 _She never saw it coming._

* * *

The _Goliath_ let out a fierce roar as it held an uprooted tree firmly in its trunk, boasting its strength to all who had caught a glimpse of it in time. The beast then lifted the makeshift weapon over its head until it threw it at the cluster of humans.

Its red eyes seemed to gleam with satisfaction as nearly all of them were battered aside like toys from the impact of its timed arrival; the rest were just battered. This is what it had planned to do, to strike the humans so that they couldn't resist or escape. It had been watching them from afar, gauging their momentum, and even withheld its own brethren from charging in at will - instructing them to come in waves. Finally, it had sent its fellow massive Grimm to finish them off, though it had not anticipated them still having the strength to wound the Griffon so much. No matter. They were doomed the second it had planned to attack.

With sinister intent, the Goliath had decided to charge forward. Whether it was planned or not, the Griffon screeched out loudly and followed its brother in arms, attacking as the more powerful Grimm did the same. Judging by the speed at which it moved, it was almost as if the Griffon was determined to get to the humans first. With that observation, the Goliath stopped just as quickly as it had appeared. It was fine with the choice when it saw that the humans weren't getting up any time soon, being content to allow the Griffon the honor of finishing off the pesky humans.

It was satisfied with the knowledge that it was responsible for their deaths in a tactical sense. It was the entity that defeated humans at one of their so-called greatest skills; planning. Through all of its planning, however, it had not been prepared for the intrusion of an odd sound as it basked in its superiority. It had absolutely no idea what that sound had been, but it knew what that feeling had been. It had been the feeling that all Grimm could feel, that all Grimm craved. Its deep red eyes quickly flicked to the feeling's point of origin in the horizon.

* * *

Ruby wasn't certain what had just happened. She'd been reaching for the bolt on Crescent Rose one second, and then the world shook and spun around her. Next thing she know, she was staring at the sky, her back ached, and the wind had been knocked out of her. Her vision swam as she couldn't hear anything, not even the desperate breaths she had been taking. The world seemed so dim to her right now, with spots of light occasionally fluttering through it. The young Reaper regained her muscle control with a violent twitch, managing to shoot life back into her body. As Ruby tried to sit up, she felt the bile in her stomach shift and was given the gift of actual thought again. Once she rolled onto her hands and knees, however, she felt her head pulse so intensely that she immediately forgot nearly everything except for the sensation of pain.

The young leader slowly opened her eyes once the searing pain began to subside a bit. With a few quick glances around, Ruby saw Ren trying to shake Nora awake to her far right, he even resorted to slapping her cheeks. With a look to her left, she could see the ever defiant Pyrrha shakily pushing herself off the ground and trying her best to raise Milo high enough to fire at what Ruby could assume was the approaching Griffon. Judging from her face, her attempts were to no success.

It was then that Ruby finally realized she couldn't hear anything but loud ringing. She reached up to her forehead and pushed her hand against it to see if she could do anything about the pain. For what felt like an eternity of trying, but was in actuality a few seconds, she finally pulled her hand away, only to see a bit of her blood on her palm. _'That's mine…'_ Her mindless thoughts were cut short as her mind was rendered blank. This wasn't a time to think, after all. Ruby simply funneled what Aura she had left into her wounds, doing what she could to stop the bleeding as she slowly looked around. Luckily, she found what she was looking for quickly, being Crescent Rose, as it had been at her feet.

Ruby then reached for it, but the sudden gloved fingers dancing in front of her face made her realize that Jaune had been beside her. From his face, he had been desperately trying to tell her something. After a few attempts at listening to his words, she shook her head at him; the incessant ringing proving to be all encompassing.

Jaune seemed to be screaming at her now, before grabbing her arm roughly and pulling her along towards Pyrrha. Ruby finally noticed the giant Griffon charging towards them, as Jaune slowly pulled her to the rest of the group. Pyrrha was finally managing to fire off Milo a bit, but it wasn't enough. The Griffon was nearly upon them now, the creature madly sprinting at them as if it couldn't contain itself at the chance to rip them to shreds.

Ruby didn't feel the tears streaming down her cheeks until she felt Jaune's thumb wipe them away. She looked up at his face, seeing a look of regret on it that mirrored her own. The Reaper tried not to focus on the impending death, preferring for her last image to be Jaune's face, but she inevitably found herself peering over his shoulder to look at the ever approaching Griffon.

That's when she spotted two very distinct things. One was a blinding light with the silhouette of a woman, with the wings being the source of the radiant light, and the other was a shadow that managed to be so dark, it stood out amongst the tide of Grimm it was currently racing through; and both were headed straight for her.

The Shadow reached them first, surprisingly outrunning the massive Griffon, and it grabbed Ruby by the waist in its mad sprint forwards, also yanking along a dazed Ren, before anyone could react. The redhead got a taste of her own medicine as she was whipped along at a speed she wasn't prepared for, a considerable distance from the Griffon. The Shadow finally stopped, and it became abundantly clear that the shadow was actually a person. The unnamed woman spun around, throwing some sort of chain that wrapped around Jaune's waist before he was dragged through the air towards them. Ruby also saw the 'Angel' pick up Weiss and Nora, with Yang and Pyrrha slowly jogging towards them while supporting a limping Blake.

Then, to her complete and utter shock, a behemoth of a man that would make even Yatsuhashi have to look up a bit, fell from nowhere and crashed into the Griffon, hitting it dead on in the head. As soon as his body made contact, a massive gust of wind blasted out from around the man, actually managing to send the Griffon tumbling back a bit onto its elbows. A few seconds passed while the man balanced himself on his hands, though it felt like an instant, before he kicked off of it, and sent the beast flying back into a set of trees. The creature of Grimm for some reason struggled to move at first until it suddenly reared back on its hind legs in anger, as if it planned to charge its assailant. It didn't even get a few feet before what Ruby thought was a small Sun seemed to engulf the creature whole.

* * *

"Dolus, please, that's enough." Amaterasu all but pleaded at her teammate with her hands clasped together, but she could easily read the expression on his face. When she saw him grin smugly, she knew it was far too late. Ama gave Professor Goodwitch an apologetic look, but decided to redirect it to her doomed teammate when she saw the flushed face Goodwitch was sporting.

Despite what the rosy hue of her cheeks may have suggested, Glynda wasn't feeling anything other than extreme irritation, although there was a tad bit of embarrassment that she smothered with her fury. The young adult of SAND, their demolition expert she believed, had apparently taken to her in the short trip on the Bullhead, though he claimed she had stolen his heart from his first day at Beacon about three or so years ago. While she would never admit it, he was rather handsome with a nice physique, as most professional male Huntsman had, but for a _student_ of all things to so openly flirt, while on the job no less! He was truly testing her patience, and she felt what little she had crumble every time Dolus dared to address her on a first name basis.

"I'm just explaining myself. You guys have to understand, I can see why Glynda here would misunderstand my advances. A lot of adults our age are rather foolish, and don't know what's truly valuable in life. I, on the other hand, being the intellectual I am, can understand what I truly want in this world. That's why I felt the need to list the reasons I would like to court Glynda, the gorgeous woman she is, aloud. I know that her older age entails experience, her position would allude to a bit of a domineering, and I know it goes without saying, but it's safe to assume Monty gave her every curve naturally. If that doesn't sound like the perfect woman to you, I'm sorry to say you're all only interested in men." Dolus finished his impromptu speech by turning to face the woman of his dreams. His eyes roamed her figure until they reached her bust, which were obstructed by a pair of arms, which connected to hands, in which one held a riding crop, and his gaze finally went up to lock with angry green eyes.

"I can just imagine all the things we can use that crop for…" The young, tanned man trailed, his eyes focusing on a blurry card that was floating right in front of his eyes. He reached up to grab the phenomenon, when he felt himself float off the floor, and began to rotate in place. The last thing he saw as the room spun was the pitiful looks his teammates were sending him and a black, blurry item flicking, presumably the riding crop. Then he saw the sky as he was flung forcibly from the Bullhead.

Nyx pulled herself over the edge of metal floor.

"Hey, we've arrived. Dolus jumped out right on time." She stated, making eye contact with everyone in the room except Glynda. Though, she realized everyone was staring at the blonde witch.

"Yes. He jumped out. How fortunate he happened to do so when we arrived as well. Isn't it, Susano'o?"

"Agreed." The large man said as he nodded, eying the Professor as he quickly made to jump out of the Bullhead. He positioned his arms to cut down on surface area, allowing him to catch up to the flailing Dolus, and he saw the rest of his teammates from his peripherals. Susano'o saw beams of light easily tear through the Griffons that were unlucky enough to be in the way of their trip to the ground, courtesy of his twin sister, Amaterasu.

The powerhouse of SAND wasn't very surprised when he saw Nyx go shooting past him and Dolus, even with the head start Goodwitch had so _kindly_ given him, and heading straight for the Griffons that Amaterasu hadn't yet gotten around to killing. He assumed Nyx must've launched herself or have Glynda fling her straight down because her descent far exceeded simple gravity's pull to the ground.

The black clad Huntress began to strike down the Griffons with her two onyx colored xiphos, which were considered mid-length with their blades being roughly two feet long. The two short swords were connected to chains hidden in her wrist guards, giving her a range that was so unexpected to most enemies that she often needed to only use it once to end a battle. At one point during her onslaught, she stabbed both of her blades into a Griffon's side, hauling herself onto the creature, before tearing through one wing and pulling on the other so the Grimm barreled into another of its kind, where she inevitably pierced both their skulls simultaneously.

Nyx then landed in the midst of the Grimm that were just beyond the front line that the children had been holding, up until the point they had been ambushed by a small Goliath. While the Goliath was certainly massive, far overshadowing everything around it, Nyx noted that it had to be a full ten or so feet shorter than average. Her feet hadn't touched the grassy ground for more than a moment before a large, uprooted tree slammed down on the spot she had been standing, courtesy of the Goliath.

By that point, however, she had already sprinted off in the direction of the younger students, nearly disappearing from sight. A larger than average Griffon had been charging at them, and she almost instantly noticed it seemed significantly hurt. Nyx acknowledged that the two first years teams had done a number on the Grimm, even managing to get rid of its ability to fly, but chose not to comment on it. Instead, she picked up a small girl dressed in red and another girl in what seemed like jade green as she continued to dash, knowing she was running out of time. The fast Huntress felt her team leader's presence above her before she heard her.

Nyx roughly let go of the two smaller girls once she had gotten them out of the soon to be danger zone. She didn't so much as blink when one of them had let out an embarrassingly masculine grunt, before whipping back around and throwing her chains - without her sword attached to them for once - at a blonde boy who was stumbling to his feet. Nyx then gave a mighty tug as she could hear the boy yell, feeling no remorse as she dragged the boy through the air; it was for his own good.

* * *

Amaterasu was flying through the air. Literally.

The young woman had activated her Semblance, fueling her Aura into the small pack between her shoulder blades, which had two metal frames extended out from the sides with three exhaust ports on each of them and one large thruster at the bottom. From these exhausts, her Semblance created six bright, golden streams of light in the form of long feathers - that she could easily control, thus giving her the ability of flight.

Amaterasu scooped up a girl in white and one that had been clutching what looked like a war hammer to her chest. Ama barely managed to regain enough altitude with the extra, unbalanced weight, so she gave the girls a few scant inches between their toes and the ground, before throwing them all the way to where Ruby and Ren had been left - from about halfway there -, then circling back.

Ruby had to cover her eyes as the woman's wings grew significantly brighter, and, even more so, faster, as she circled back and picked up Yang and Pyrrha in only a fraction of the time it had taken her to make the trip with her first payload of students.

Nyx's eyes flicked skyward as she watched Susano'o pull Dolus into a bear hug, righting his orientation all while still free falling. The two maneuvered into a position that had allowed Dolus to kick off of Susano'o's back, causing Dolus to decelerate and break his momentum while giving the larger of the two a small speed boost to his already insane velocity.

Susano'o extended his fist, slamming straight into the massive Griffon, managing to make the creature of Grimm stagger back, and crack the ground beneath the beast from the force of the impact. Using his Semblance to create a massive gust of wind that exploded out around his body, he was able to quickly stabilize himself. With a death glare of his own with his golden eyes, Susano'o had stared into the endless, dark-red eyes of the Griffon.

"Hello, monster," Susano'o began, causing the Grimm to roar and blink at the human, "judging from your size, one would assume you're an old and powerful one that has no-" As it went to throw Susano'o off, the lightly-tanned man sent a few intense bolts of lightning coursing through its head and causing it to twitch in paralysis.

"I am talking!" Susano'o seethed through his teeth as he sent more and more waves of lightning into the injured body of the Grimm, causing it to gargle on its own boiling saliva. "I know the elderly have a tendency to ramble, but this is no longer _your_ world, beast. A world where you get to kill the innocent or the weak; a world where you get to live. Your world ended the second it collided with ours." With that, Susano'o pushed off of his hands, forcing his body to raise up a bit more, before he suddenly slammed his foot down into the head of the Griffon and kicked off of it, sending the beast flying back and into the trees a dozen or so yards away.

"Hm, not as far as last time..." He muttered under his breath, watching it crash into the first layer of trees.

Now that the Grimm was free of Susano'o's electrocution, it was finally able to move its body. With rage almost as severe as the fury it felt at the lost of its wings, the Griffon lashed out and screeched with a sense of ferocity befitting it as it began uprooting some of the emerald-leaved trees and thrashed against them. Once it felt it had enough room, it scanned over the battlefield for the human that dared send it there. It spotted Susano'o crushing and tossing its fellow Grimm dozens of yards with his bare hands. While it shed no tears over watching them die, it did notice that the damned arrogant human had its back turned - almost as if mocking it. That folly would be its death. However, once the Griffon stood upon its hind legs to charge, it was blinded by an enormous orb of light descending upon it.

It screeched and clawed at the ground beneath it as the light grew brighter and far hotter, searing its flesh, and cooking the beast from the inside out. It felt the fluids in its eyes begin to boil, its tongue sizzling until it all but became charred, and the extensive wounds along its body being sealed by the cauterized blood. Then, it felt nothing.

The orb of light had suddenly shrunk around the Griffon, growing far more intense in heat and radiance as it literally erased the parts of the Grimm it had came in contact with. Once the orb was compressed into a fine point no greater than a foot across, it suddenly expanded out into a massive, rupturing explosion that crackled the air and completely erased the Griffon's presence.

With a small sigh, Amaterasu flew off from above the spectacle, her back to the radiant lights that rained down like fireworks after the explosion. Along her way to her brother, she would intercept whatever Griffon was in the skies with her with a flurry of swipes from the kodachi in her left hand, or by shooting them in the head with the hand cannon in her right one. Only once did she have to maneuver out of the way when one of the flying monsters tried to get the drop on her by coming from above. Once she made it within earshot of him, she smiled and called out to him. "Thanks for keeping its attention, Susano'o, that attack is typically hard to hit anything with when they see it coming."

"No problem, it made up for my lack of appropriate words to say to it. Today isn't my best." Susano'o admitted to his older twin in a low tone that she could barely hear between his devastating strikes towards whichever Creep that went his way or was too slow to leave it. With an open palm, he rammed his hand into the armored head of a Creep with enough force to shatter the armored mask, snap its neck, and cast the beast into a violent backwards spiral and against a collection of its brethren and sent them all soaring through the air. He didn't so much as blink as they were either shot out of the air by his sister, or slammed down by Professor Goodwitch, killing them all instantly.

Dolus quickly pulled out a few cards and flicked his wrist in rapid succession three times in three different directions. Each card landing at key points throughout the battlefield, particularly near the feet of Griffons or amidst clusters of Creeps, fiery explosions quickly flashing only for the fleeting smoke to reveal scorched earth. He sighed and moved the rest of the way to Susano'o, looking around for whatever large cluster of Grimm that stepped into his range.

"Personally, I think we could've came up with a better one-liner." Dolus muttered to himself as he watched the mess of Griffon ichor splatter the landscape in the clearing from the blend of his team's attacks along with his own. "I mean, are the worlds really colliding when we utterly destroy them? Wouldn't collide imply equal force or something? That elderly bit was shit, but the rest… somehow worse. Come on, man, work on that shit."

"It was a spur of the moment, Dolus. It doesn't matter, anyway. We're here, the Griffon is dead, and there's still more Grimm to kill." Susano'o said aloud as he lifted his sword up, hauling the dead Creep off of its feet before tossing the beast away and then stabbed the weapon into the ground without much of a thought. Before Dolus could respond, he pulled out his sheath and let it shift into its Anti-Material Rifle form as he reached for an ammo clip in the pouch along his lower back, sliding it in calmly, then he pointed the iron-sights towards a particularly large Creep that had been stalking around in the background.

Thunder, Susano'o's rectangular rifle, had been more than twice the length of his extended tsurugi with a detail of black clouds and golden bolts of lightning along the barrel. Without much concern for the Goliath eyeing him or the few Griffons that attempted to sweep at him, only to be pierced by either a stream of light or by one of Nyx's chain swords, Susano'o took his shot at the Creep's right leg.

With terrifying power, the leg of the Creep utterly exploded, sending meaty chunks out in a geyser of Grimm bits and throwing the crippled Creep to the ground. As soon as the shot was made, Thunder kicked so harshly that even Susano'o's massive and powerful frame jerked. Despite that, however, Susano'o almost instantly righted himself with a mighty stomp that cracked the ground beneath him and planted his feet back into a stance for his next shot, that he delivered directly at the Creep's now exposed throat. Once it made contact, the shot had ripped apart the target's body and splattered what was left of it along the grass.

* * *

SAND was definitely impressive, to say the least. Ruby watched in awe as the members of the third year team completely decimated the Griffons, who had gone into a rage at the sudden death of their largest brother. She was so enraptured in the amazing events going on in front of her she hadn't noticed everyone slowly moving towards the Bullhead; which she also hadn't seen land. It wasn't until Blake had spun her around by the shoulders did Ruby begin the journey to their salvation herself. The Reaper turned around and fired potshots at Grimm as she slowly shuffled backwards, trying to be of any assistance.

Pyrrha, Yang, and Glynda held off the Griffons who were now madly swarming the Bullhead, though they were honestly picking off the rare survivor of the attacks of Team SAND. Each member was practically a death machine on their own accord, and working together only seemed to increase the radius of their attacks exponentially. Griffons and Creeps alike were exploding into chunks, disintegrating, being dissected, and just brutally torn asunder.

Ruby watched on until a single Creep had managed to survive everything and make its way towards her. It survived the epic explosions Dolus's cards were setting off, Yang's shotgun blasts, and the Dust rounds courtesy of Milo.

She found the strength to lift Crescent Rose and pulled the trigger, eyes already moving on as she assumed the squeezing of the trigger had assured the creature's demise. It wasn't a feeling that told her something was wrong, it was the distinctive _lack_ of a feeling. The recoil of a shot, specifically.

 _She was out of ammo._

With wide eyes, Ruby turned to see the black form of the Creep already on top of her, its maw wide open as ferocious teeth loomed over her, ready to snap down on bone and sinew.

In a fruitless effort that even the Reaper knew wouldn't accomplish anything, she began to swing Crescent Rose at the Creep. Her tired muscles, and the close proximity promised that it wouldn't penetrate nearly deep enough to stop the Grimm.

Somewhere in the background noise, Ruby could hear the heavy footsteps of Yang, no doubt rushing to her little sister's aid, despite the fact that it was clear she'd never reach her in time.

The Creep encompassed all of her vision, and the cloak-clad girl stared down her death, silver eyes refusing to give it the satisfaction of seeing her in terror in her final moments.

* * *

Dolus sighed, even as he flicked an explosive card into a Griffon's open mouth in a particularly impressive trick shot. While he'd never admit to having any ambition, he had been excited to fight the Goliath, even if his verbal complaints said otherwise. To be stuck with defensive duty while they secured the idiotic teams of first years who managed to stumble onto a Goliath of all things; in Dolus' own words, 'fucking sucks.'

For the most part, the lovely blonde, whom he knew was just playing hard to get, had done a _good_ job of corralling the children into the Bullhead. Susano'o and Nyx had done a _great_ job of fighting off the charging Goliath, who had seemingly gone into a rage when they had decimated the Griffon. And, like always, Dolus himself was doing a _perfect_ job of protecting the children while they retreated, with a bit of help from Amaterasu, and maybe the kids were lending a hand where they could.

Dolus looked around for his nagging bi-… captain, lazily stabbing a card into the underside of a Creep who had lunged at him. He spotted her twirling through the air, bright beams of lights shooting from her hand cannons, cutting swathes of Griffons out of the air.

She was dominating the air, as always. That was until, and to Dolus's immense shock, he saw her get swatted out of the sky by a Griffon who had divebombed her from seemingly nowhere. He was certain she had sensed it coming, and flared her Aura. He didn't worry as she continued to plummet towards the ground. The young man was certain she was just being dramatic, as always, and would pull away at the last second. He didn't know what to think when she slammed into the ground with such force that he could feel it beneath his feet and see a crater marring the forest floor.

* * *

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Dolus muttered to himself as he threw a few of his cards mindlessly at a pack of Creeps. Because of his recklessness, he didn't notice as a single one managed to survive the fiery explosions. He began sprinting forward, fear gripping his heart as several Grimm already began to converge on his fallen comrade, barely hearing one of the students cry out something. The third-year spun around to see a large Creep, and a few flashes of red - no doubt one of the students he was meant to protect.

His body already turning to what it deemed the more important matter, his own teammate in peril, Dolus flicked one of his significantly more explosive cards at the lone Creep's backside. Sure, it may have been overkill, but time was of the essence and she'd be fine, more or less. Dolus began a full on sprint to Amaterasu, his back to the massive explosion that obliterated the Creep and sent the student flying away.

* * *

Jaune's heart stopped as he saw Ruby _slam_ against the Bullhead's side. Her form went limp as she reached the ground, and he was standing over her body in the span of a second. Clammy hands hovered over her, hesitant and unknowing of what to do. That's why he remained silent when strong, confident hands shoved him aside, Yang kneeling beside her baby sister.

"Ruby, Ruby? Wake up, please wake up." The crack in the voice of one of the strongest women Jaune would ever know was practically heart wrenching. The Knight _felt_ the fury in Yang's heart, but was still shocked when she turned her head, burning blood red eyes meeting his.

"Get Ruby on the Bullhead, Jaune…" Yang muttered from clenched teeth as she stood up and placed Ruby into Jaune's arms, "I'm _killing_ him!" She hissed out when her eyes locked onto the back of the man that dared harm her sister.

Jaune nodded in agreement, taking Ruby into his arms bridal-style. He then turned around to see Pyrrha was now standing in front of both of them.

"Yang, we need to get on the Bullhead now. She needs medical aid, and we're not taking off without you on board." The Amazonian informed the pair, only to find _two_ stern glares sent her way.

"He hurt Ruby. So I'm going to _hurt_ him."

"Yes, she was hurt, but it was in the process of saving her life!" Pyrrha rebutted.

"He nearly took it himself!" Jaune roared, causing both Huntresses-in-training to turn to him in surprise. "He has it coming to him!"

"Jaune…" Pyrrha mumbled, her vivid green eyes dimming as her face contorted as if to ask 'why?' Said blonde looked over her shoulder to see the rest of his teammates and those of RWBY were also sporting looks of shock.

"I...I...he hurt Ruby." He reasoned to himself, even as his ragged breathing calmed down, his heaving shoulders relaxing, and his heartbeat decelerated. He climbed aboard the Bullhead with his head hung.

Even Yang had lost a large chunk of her fury as she too had been caught up in the spectacle of Jaune's sudden anger. With an arm on her shoulder and a pleading look, Yang begrudgingly followed Pyrrha onto the Bullhead.

* * *

The Goliath had been becoming increasingly agitated as it failed to track the two humans that would disappear in a blur, only to reappear a great distance away or close to either shoot or slash at its body. The damage was superficial and did little more than cause the beast to furiously sweep its trunk at the nearest of the two humans just to hit nothing but air. It was perplexed, the humans' attacks could barely be considered a threat, but it could not even begin to get near them before they'd disappear and leave another scratch at its body and at its patience. The humans must know that their attacks were in vain, that there was no hope of victory for them, yet they continued to try and hurt the massive Grimm. The Goliath narrowed its eyes and rationalized that the only reason these humans persisted was due to some misguided arrogance, or _desperation_. If only it could get a grip on them, it wouldn't hesitate to wring the life from their bodies and cast them away like the garbage that they were.

Unfortunately for the Goliath, it couldn't see that it was being baited by false displays of strength and the most basic of strategies; a distraction. Instead, because of its hubris, it hadn't noticed the Bullhead had began to fly up into the air once again until it had turned around.

After a second to process the sight, the Goliath violently bellowed out, causing the very forest to shake from its magnitude. The quaking caused both Susano'o and Nyx to stagger and come to a brief stop, ending their high speed prodding as they looked at the beast in surprise. They watched as the Grimm swept up and uprooted an entire cluster of nearby trees before tossing all of them towards the Bullhead. With a quick nod to one another, the male darted off in the direction of the Bullhead but stopped halfway when he heard Nyx call out to him. With a quick glance back, he saw why his teammate had stopped him and smirked. The enormous Grimm continued to ignore the humans around it as it watched the trees soar through the sky in the hopes of knocking out the machine of the sky and possibly kill the occupants.

But, to the Goliath's surprise, the trees only made it about halfway to target before coming to a complete _stop_. In the middle of the air, defying gravity.

* * *

One Glynda Goodwitch gripped her riding crop with an intensity she hadn't used in quite awhile. Her skin was taut, and a slow bead of sweat trickled down her brow. The Professor continued to hold up the group of uprooted trees turned projectiles, giving _him_ cover for the shot.

The Grimm stared on in bewilderment, almost completely forgetting about the Bullhead that was nearly out of sight, as the trees slowly turned around with the roots toward it. Just as the leaves of a few of them were parting, the Goliath just barely noticed a tiny spark in the distance between the trees.

 _Then it was shot in the eye._

The enormous Grimm let out a low grumble of pain that had been the equivalent of a growl towards the human that shot at it. Now, as the trees rotated, it could clearly see him. It was the largest of the humans, the one with the wind and lightning abilities, the one that contributed to the death of its Griffon brother. It would be the first to die.

With a sudden burst of speed, that was still far too slow compared to the slowest of Huntsmen and Huntresses, the Goliath charged directly towards Susano'o, sweeping its long trunk along the ground to send a wave of rock and dirt in an attempt to corner the young man. Once again, it fell for SAND's tactics.

* * *

If Dolus were a better man, he would be feeling relieved, he would be feeling like he needed to apologize, he would feel more than an ounce of guilt, he would be feeling a lot of things right now. But, he wasn't. He was feeling annoyed. Here he had actually and visibly worried about his team leader being in danger, worried that she was hurt or dead when she was literally tackled out of the air so hard she formed a large crater. Why then, was he even remotely surprised to see Amaterasu wasn't just alright; she had literally had gotten up from the rubble and blown the heads off of all of the Griffons that crowded around her 'grave', climbed out, warmly smiled at him, then jumped right back into the air?

As he just stood there and sighed, he trailed his fingers through his hair and looked back at the havoc that he caused when he idly tossed one of his aces at that girl. ' _I wonder if she's okay…'_ Dolus thought to himself as his sharp eyes looked for signs of blood splatters, a limb or two, or an entire body. He shrugged and turned his attention back to the task at hand when he couldn't find anything after a few seconds of a half-assed search, _'eh, whatever, I'm sure she's fine.'_

"Hey, Ama, what's the plan?" Dolus called out as he looked up at her, not really caring for the Creeps that circled around him, unsure whether they were either too wary to charge him at that moment or were just trying to catch him off guard. They were failing.

"It looks like the Bullhead has made it to safety, so I think we should go with some Forecasting," Amaterasu paused to spin around in the air, dodging the Griffon that had tried to attack her from her blind spot. During the spin, which she deliberately timed to be just as the beast nearly hit her, she placed the barrel of one of her hand cannons to the back of the beast's head, and pulled the trigger, sending a ray of light out that put a hole clean through its hide and killing it instantly.

If Amaterasu hadn't spun around right away to resume indiscriminately killing Grimm, she would've seen the glare Dolus shot her way when the ray of light that had just killed the Griffon shot right by his head. He narrowly avoided having half his face scorched off by tilting back the tiniest of smidgens. She also would've heard him curse about 'stupid feelings and shit.'

"Just keep your eye out and combo whenever you think the time is right. Once we all engage the Goliath, I want you to throw some of the cards at its eyes so we can get it it angry and thrash about, then I want you to destroy the ground beneath it so we can get it to its knees and finish it off quickly."

"So, I'm on bitch duty again!?"

"Please don't call it that in front of Professor Goodwitch, Dolus."

"Ah, you're right. She probably wants to save those for the bedroom. Good point, Ama."

Ama was far too kind of a person to simply turn or fly away from her teammate while he was having another one of his… _moments_. She simply waited for him to finish before sighing softly and turning her head towards the Professor in question and spotting her tossing Creeps around like ragdolls as she walked away further from her side of the battlefield, which was a fair ways away from the now gone Bullhead.

Dolus whistled loudly for his leader's attention.

"Hey!"

Amaterasu paused in her observations and turned her gaze back towards her teammate, who was staring at her as if she just offended him.

"Her eyes are up there, and yours should be on the Grimm. Besides, she's mi-"

Both Amaterasu and Dolus were hit full force by the quaking bellow of the Goliath and tensed up momentarily as their eyes snapped towards the beast. Ama then watched as it sent a cluster of trees flying through the air with a mighty toss, passing directly over her. She didn't even need to look where they were going, she knew it was aiming for the Bullhead and prepared to intercept the makeshift weapons in their flight as best she could. But, to her relief, she watched as the trees were caught in the air by Goodwitch. When the flying Huntress saw as the Professor began to turn the trees towards the Goliath and as her brother was using that opportunity to set up a shot, she got an idea.

"Change of plans, Dolus." She said to her teammate as she holstered her weapons and drew her twin swords. She then turned her gaze towards Susano'o, waiting patiently for him to fire. As soon as he took his shot, she sprang into action and propelled herself up towards the four suspended trees. With a series of fierce twirls of her blades and a rapid zigzag in the air, she diced through each tree, cutting each of them diagonally, leaving all of their points at a wedge. One more pass over for each tree, and with a flick of the wrist, she cut these wedges into the finest points she could manage.

Without the need to signal Dolus, she saw an ace land on each of the points, sticking there on contact. Now that this was done, Amaterasu quickly flew off towards Goodwitch and Nyx, getting there long before the charging Goliath could make it even halfway to her brother. "Professor, hold off on using those until the Goliath is directly under them so we can avoid the armor and hit the back."

The blonde Huntress only nodded in return, honestly relieved that Amaterasu had actually lightened the load considerably by her efforts. Because of that, she had no issue holding up the trees turned pikes a little longer. Besides, it was a solid plan.

"Nyx, Forecast is Fifty-two Pick up!" Was all Ama had to say before dark haired Huntress nodded and turned to throw her chain around Dolus as he was jogging over. His face of confusion brought the faintest of smirks from Nyx before his face darkened and he mouthed out 'don't you fucking dare,' just in time for her to pull him off of his feet and all the way to her feet.

"You bitch." Dolus muttered as he glared up at the two of his present teammates before sighing. He wasn't sure if he preferred the mild pain around his waist or the embarrassment of being dragged like a child in front of Glynda. Instead of letting Glynda see him in this state, he decided to reload the decks of cards in his sleeves and pulled an entire spare deck out of one of his jacket pockets. "You know, I always assumed you were into some kinky stuff, but that was just BDSM stuff…" The Student with a mouth paused to flick six cards across the field and formed an open and massive circle in the grass beneath the hovering trees, "I never thought you were into exhibitionism."

"While I am not into exhibition, you aren't too far off the nail with the first statement." Nyx added with a convincing smile, making Dolus unsure if she was telling the truth or not.

"Wait, what?"

* * *

Susano'o was a lot of things; prone to extreme anger, antisocial, intensely competitive, and maybe a few shades of asshole. But one the things he was the most of, was being stubborn. He didn't do well when challenged, as he'd always drop whatever he was doing to meet the crucible head-on. If someone wanted to race, he'd aim to beat them and with twice the laps. If someone wanted to fight, he'd do it unarmed and let them keep their weapons. If someone wanted to out eat him, he'd nearly eat himself into a coma. Even Susano'o would admit that his stubbornness and competitive streak were problems he needed to work on. He simply could not back down.

Even now, as a literal monster charged at him, he couldn't help but stand his ground. Susano'o even went the extra mile and held his arms out to the beast. "Come on, I'm right here! Do you think I'm afraid of a creature like you!?" He'd yell out as the Grimm drew closer. _But not fast enough for Susano'o's liking._ With a low growl of annoyance at the Goliath's attempts to scare him by sending waves of debris at him, Susano'o grabbed his sword and motioned it towards the oncoming rock and sand before roughly flicking his blade up a few inches.

"Getting desperate, huh!? If you're going to come at me, you better come at me like a man!" He basically snarled out at the Grimm as if he were offended by it. If he wasn't in the moment, even he would point out that he was being a tad reckless to be playing chicken with a beast he was fraction the size of. But, even with that thought in the back of his head, he decided to go with the role he was playing and began to send his Semblance through his weapon to fire powerful bolts of lightning out from the tip of his sword. The action was typically immensely hard to aim and a tad Aura taxing, but the Goliath wasn't exactly the hardest of things to hit, and this battle was nearly over.

If the Goliath wasn't angry before, it was downright feral now as it was pelted in the open mouth and eyes by the cloud of dust and sharp stone that human had sent flying back at it with a gust of wind. As it was nearly halfway to the male and becoming increasingly agitated by the arrogance and lightning the human sent to strike its charging body, it was developing a severe case of tunnel vision and simply couldn't see that it had just stepped into the last trap of its life.

" _Now!"_

Less than a moment later, it felt as if the entire world around it exploded and then it felt... odd; it felt something that it wasn't accustomed to feeling.

Pain.

* * *

"Now!" Amaterasu yelled out as loud as she could as she suddenly flew up, hard, easily propelling herself, Nyx, and Dolus high into the air as she held onto her teammate's other chain. She didn't think much about Dolus's long string of swears and focused her Semblance to lift them up before she looked down and heaved as hard as she could on the chain. The combined momentum of their flight up and Amaterasu literally throwing them caused the partners to soar even higher, well above Dolus's comfort zone.

While this was going on, Susano'o fired a shot from Thunder, with the shot being enhanced by lightning, at one of the six cards that Dolus had set out. He was thankful that they were from his Thunder God deck and were therefore capable of acting as lightning rods, causing the bolt riding the initial shot to bounce between each card that encircled the Goliath. The cards burned for the briefest of seconds before blowing up and sending massive and fiery explosion out, shattering the field between them all and causing the ground to cave in under the Goliath's gargantuan weight, breaking its footing.

But the Grimm didn't have the time to even notice this change before it was suddenly stabbed in the back by the trees that Glynda sent spirally down towards it. While the attack only went into the hide by a few feet, that was more than an adequate amount for Amaterasu's machinations.

From the combined might of the trees burrowing into its hide and the ground crumbling beneath it, the Goliath _fell_.

Rather than watch the beast fall, Susano'o jumped into action by running from his sniping spot as fast as he could to sweep in behind Goodwitch, lift her up, and jump off to the side. He didn't want to look down at Glynda as he could _feel_ \- literally feel - her gaze burrow imaginary holes through his skull. Once he was certain they were a safe distance away, he set her down and turned towards the Goliath just in time to see the battlefield before him explode completely. Barely a scrap of land was saved from the onslaught of cards that rained down upon the grounded beast. The explosions were so intense that Susano'o's hair was being swept back even further and the ground beneath him shuddered and quaked.

Glynda watched in mild surprise, counting as fifty-six explosions were going off barely even thirty feet away from her. She could hear the cries of the Goliath as it was bombarded and had its skin seared, bones pounded, and world collided by the young man of SAND. It was eerie to think that Dolus of all people had this much firepower hidden up his sleeve.

Goodwitch winced at her unintentional pun towards Dolus's weapon choice.

"They're made with Dust and powered by his or our Aura, in case you were wondering." Susano'o idly muttered as he looked down at his rifle and decided to reload it in case he needed to make a shot soon. His words reached Glynda's ears and she narrowed her eyes up towards the students in the air. She could see the cards rain down from Dolus's hands, noting that they all burned a moment or two before they detonated. "Like tattoos, they are marked by Dust and have it burned into the paper of the cards in multiple layers before finally being laminated so they don't smear or ignite prematurely. Depending on how much Aura he puts into each card determines when they'll detonate after being thrown."

"Who makes them for him? They seem far too complex for him to have thought of himself." The blonde Huntress turned her eyes to Susano'o and raised an eyebrow.

"I've seen him make some on his own, but he does get large boxes of them in the mail." The Huntsman simply shrugged and turned to look down at her, both of them easily being able to tell that the other was uncomfortable with the knowledge of advanced Dust manipulation being in the hands of, well, a jackass.

Speaking of said jackass, he had just finished tossing the last of his Golden Goddess deck just in time for his descent to begin. Dolus tried to keep calm during the state of free fall, knowing that his teammate wouldn't let him fall either to the ground or into the explosions that would still go on for a few more moments. _'She better catch me soon and not any of that dramatic at the last second bullshit her and her brother like to do.'_ As he grew closer to the forest floor, he sighed and began to activate his Semblance just in case he ended up, for whatever reason, hitting it. If he had took a moment to stop ranting, he would've saw his leader had just dropped off Nyx near the massive crater so she could inspect the inert Goliath as Ama sped off towards Dolus.

"Got you."

He didn't even flinch when he felt Amaterasu's arms wrap around him from behind and all downward momentum had ended. He would've made a joke about how she could hold him like that whenever she wanted, but he was stopped by two things. He remembered that Susano'o was stronger, faster, more skilled than him, knew most of his tricks, and didn't _appreciate_ jokes about his sister. His ass was still sore from their last 'debate' over it. The second reason was because he spotted said asshole talking to his Glynda.

With a frown, he reached down towards his pants, causing Ama to nearly drop him because he basically had to bend over to grab what he was looking for. After getting a better grip of him and making sure he had been secure in her arms, she nearly dropped him once again when she heard the sound of his zipper, her eyes widening. "Hey, asshole! Back off!" Dolus yelled out to his teammate on the ground, suddenly brandishing a small, old pistol and turning off the safety. "We had an agreement!"

"Dolus, please.." His soft spoken leader began, noticing that his Aura was already in the orange from the Forecast. She was worried he'd get in more trouble than he could handle right now.

"No, the bastard swore to me that he'd keep his distance from _my_ woman!"

With that, Susano'o pinched the bridge of his nose and Ama simply dropped her teammate - though, he landed harmlessly on the ground that no more than five feet beneath him. Now that he was free, he walked towards the taller male with the pistol actually aimed at him.

"You were like a brother to me… an uglier, freak of a brother, but one none the less."

"Piss off, I was simply talking to her, and she's not your wo-"

Susano'o was interrupted by the sounds of gunfire filling the clearing as Dolus emptied the clip towards his so-called brother. But, to no one's surprise except for maybe Glynda's, all nine shots missed their target completely and flew past an unfazed Susano'o. "I don't think you could hit me with that old Vacuo piece of sh-"

Susano'o was once again interrupted as the small gun bounced harmlessly off of his chest. Both he and Dolus took a small moment to look down at the gun before the wind began to pick up and Susano'o let out a low growl and took a step towards Dolus.

Glynda turned away from the two young men of SAND. While the most unorthodox group of students she had seen in quite a while, they were certainly good at what they did, and would make great Huntsmen one day, if they survived long enough. Ignoring the bickering, her eyes narrowed at the empty sky. Because of that, she hadn't noticed the petite leader of SAND looking at her.

"By the way, Professor Goodwitch. I never got the opportunity to ask, but who's meant to transport us back to Beacon now that the airship has left?" Amaterasu asked, with all of SAND looking over at the older blonde for her answer.

"Fuck."

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 **Fate: FINALLY. We'll try to keep the banter/bickering short. Try, but not succeed.**

 **Prick: Disclaimer, everything read above was approved of by Fate, if you're feeling a little skeptical of SAND's legitimacy. Seriously though, sorry for the cringe.**

 **Fate: Not all of it was approved, as Dolus was almost predominantly Prick, and I personally felt** _ **very**_ **uneasy about some of the things I had them do or being able to do. I was reassured by watching Team CFVY's debut and by fellow writers that it was fine and understandable. Not Prick, though, he cringed even though he was responsible for some of the worst of it - like Ruby and Glynda's thoughts on SAND. ANYWAYS, it has been brought to my attention by** _ **someone**_ **less cultured than myself that I went overboard with the Japanese and Greek names for SAND's weapons, armors, and a bit of their names. So, I shall be sparing you all the time of looking them up and just explain to you what they are down here.**

 **Prick: Fate, are you saying you published something you didn't think was of the high quality you purport to have? I call bullshit... Also, I really doubt anyone was going to go out of their way to search these up; this is necessary.**

 **Fate: I meant you.**

 **1- Names: Shiroko means "White Child", and was my way of staying true to the Color Naming Rule, as Amaterasu yielded mixed results on its own. Amaterasu is the Shinto Goddess of the Sun and the Universe. If you knew that, then her name would bring the idea of bright colors to you, which is one of the tenants of the** _ **Almighty,**_ _ **Holy,**_ **Color Naming Rule, to invoke a color. Ameko means "Rain Child", which brings cool or grayscale colors to mind. Susano'o, like Amaterasu, yielded a mixed result of bringing a color to mind. Susano'o is the Shinto God of Storms, which would bring the colors of lightning, crashing waves, thick clouds, or rain if you knew that in advance. At least, that's what I noticed from my tests on people. Alright, on to Dolus Galanós and Nyx Umbra. Dolus is the Greek God of Trickery, which brings no color to mind for me, but his last name, Galanós, is Greek for "Azure", a reference to Prick liking the color blue (since Dolus is** _ **mostly**_ **based off of and** _ **mostly**_ **created by him) and it matches the theme of the team, SAND, as water at a beach can be azure. Nyx Umbra, I felt that this name didn't actually need to be reinforced with the last name as Nyx is the Greek Goddess and Personification of the Night, and of the Dark. Umbra is essentially the absolution of all light, so, as dark as it gets. Yet, somehow, your mother-in-law will still find ways to be darker than that.**

 **2- Theme: SAND's team themes are after deities and their colors can be associated with beaches. Amaterasu for bright rays and white sands. Susano'o is for the more adventurous of us who enjoy being at the beach during storms because of the waves (Don't judge, here in Florida, we literally have something called Hurricane Parties) are more powerful and the feeling of sea air hitting you at higher speeds. Nyx is for black sand beaches or just night trips to a beach, which can very fun, though a little scary to see a mass of black that could swallow you up. Dolus is for azure waters, the color of the waters near my house.**

 **3- Equipment: So, yeah, not explaining a kimono… Tatami Gusoku is basically a light chest piece made out of Tatami, which is basically Japanese folded armor. Light weight stuff, surprisingly durable. A Tsurugi is basically a Japanese straight sword that predates the katana. (I gave Susano'o one as a reference to the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, one of the Three Imperial Regalia of Japan, as well as being the blade of legend that Susano'o received after slaying the eight-headed dragon snake, Orochi). A xiphos is a Greek double-edged sword made popular by Spartans and other ancient Greeks. Class dismissed.**

 **Prick: Shit… Even I didn't read that…Also, a box under a bridge on a highway doesn't count as a house, Fate. Maybe it's a home, but not a house.**

 **Fate: It was your fault I wrote it.**

 **Prick: It was my fault for letting you actually write. Oh, well, it can't be helped.**

 **Fate: I'm not happy with this. Someone please kick the stool from under me….**

 **Prick: You and me both buddy. *Kicks the stool***


	24. Scythes, Spears, and Syringes

**Chapter Twenty-Four:** _Scythes, Spears, and Syringes._

 **Fate: "** _ **Oh, my!**_ **A chapter so quickly?" We, mostly spearheaded by Prick, wanted to get back into gear. I survived the attempt on my life, by the way. *Points towards Prick with one finger while gesturing towards the broken stool.***

 **Prick: Hey, I spearheaded it all, I think. Not sure what spearheaded actually means, but I'm assuming it means I did all the work, which I will then gladly admit Fate was correct about.**

 **Fate: Anyway, we have the next couple arcs planned, so things should be smooth. Let the Era of Fluff begin. Okay, seriously, we need to talk about how you tried to kill me.**

 **Prick: I don't know what he's talking about, your Honor. I tripped, hand on the bible, I swear it.**

 **Fate: Objection, ask him what he did to the interns!**

 **Prick: Dead men make for poor defenses, Fate.**

 **Fate: I rest my case.**

 **Prick: *fires gun***

 **Reviews: By the One and Only, Prick.**

 **Guest: You're welcome for the chapter. Glad you liked it.**

 **RPGPersona: Glad you liked the majority of team SAND. Thanks for the returning review, as always! And I can see why you see Dolus as an ass, some of the things he did totally warrant it. Though, I do have to argue, he did save Ruby's life, and he was aware he was saving a Huntress-in-training, so I don't see how the act proving dangerous to civilians applies here. He also didn't watch his teammate fall, he rushed to her aid the second he saw she needed it, or believed she did. Also, I never connected Gambit and Dolus until you mentioned it, but now I can see what you meant. The ship leaving, yeah, they done goofed. As for the fading away, probably. They're not integral to the story, but they will make appearances again, though nothing as big as the last chapter ever again.**

 **OrganofFlames: I'm glad you liked Dolus. I like to think I sculpted him in my own image. Perhaps too well, since that one guy didn't seem to like him too much… And you are far too intimate with SAND, I agree. RWBY and JNPR are recovering well, confined to bedrest and all that. And wait, Organ, for there is always calm before a storm.**

 **mediaocrity4: Thanks so much, buddy, glad you liked the chapter. And I agree, a re-read was definitely in order. Last time I trust Fate to do something on a prompt and timely fashion… I know I'm no better, I just don't promise things anymore… you shuddup.**

 **sdphantom10: Glad to hear you like SAND, too! So, it seems you felt Dolus' actions were justified, the ends and means and all that. Let's see how they react.**

 **Momijifan Low-Ki: Dysfunctional as fuck. It's also the word I use to describe the man responsible for creating Team SAND. You'd understand if you heard his warped views on things like; friendship, family, life, and the proper amount of sandwiches a person should be allowed to have in one sitting.**

 **End Reviews**

 **Fate: I thought you called me an emotionless sociopath? As for SAND, they aren't main characters here. While it won't be in a long time, but at the end of Lunar Rose Volume One, I was going to be working on their actual series. In the meantime, I am working on a series for drabbles soon. While I work on SAND's story, Prick will work on his-**

 **Prick: *Steps on Fate's throat* Hush, Fate, loose lips sink the ship. And they'll get you shivved too. Also, you** _ **are**_ **an emotionless sociopath, and dysfunctional. The fact that you confuse the people who call you a psychopath and a sociopath only proves my point. THIS IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION.**

 **Fate: *With a low grunt, I casually push Prick's weight off of me.* Admittedly, he's not wrong on me mixing up the people. Anyway, I'm going to put my head down for the chapter. Your multiple attempts on my life recently have left me reluctant to be around you more than I need to, much like your reflection.**

 **Disclaimer: We own nothing but our ideas. And stop preaching your religion on people, Prick.**

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It was with reluctance that Jaune gave the limp form of Ruby to Yang and Blake. He watched as they delicately sat her down besides Weiss, who looked on the verge of collapsing herself. His eyes lingered on the two for a moment before flicking over to his own teammates.

In all the chaos, Jaune had never seen Ren drag the unconscious Nora to the Bullhead. It didn't surprise him; Jaune knew that while Ren cared for all of them, he was right by Nora's side, first and foremost.

It was the warm touch of Pyrrha's fingers on his shoulder that guided him to a seat a bit of a ways away from everybody else. Not that he noticed.

"Jaune, are you...alright?" Pyrrha asked in a light voice that made even Jaune aware of the concern she had.

"I...I'm fine now." The Arc responded weakly.

"Are you? You were...you looked like...it seemed that…" She tried to get out, stumbling over her words. It was an infuriating tick that she only ever portrayed with Jaune. Of course, he was blissfully unaware of the effect all the little things he did had on her. Just like-

The redheaded warrior let out a small gasp when she was pulled into a hug.

"Pyr, I'm okay now. I promise. It's just that...he hurt _Ruby_."

Her heart was racing as Jaune murmured into her hair, though it felt like his fingers were tugging at it with the way he uttered _her_ name.

"I...see." Pyrrha managed, though the words felt like they scratched at every inch of her throat on the way up.

"Pyr. You know me. I like people. I like making friends. You know what I say about strangers. But, there are few people I would… It makes me mad, the way he hurt someone unnecessarily, yeah. I wouldn't stand for it. But… he hurt one of the few people close to me."

This time, Pyrrha wasn't able to hide her reaction. Her grip on him tightened, fingers digging into the armor plate on his backside.

"I can't… It wasn't _just_ Ruby, Pyr. Every time I see her slam into that Bullhead in my mind, I see _everyone_ slam into it. Lie, Nora, Weiss, Yang, Blake… _you._ "

 _A beat._

"And it just makes me want to-!" Jaune never finished, instead choosing to tighten his embrace. It wasn't until a full minute later that he had pulled away, surprised when he was pulled back into the hug, although this time it was a bit more _intimate._

Pyrrha was nuzzling herself into his neck, humming in content. Her hands roamed up to wrap around the base of his neck, which she left with a small nip.

Whatever Jaune would've no doubt stuttered out was silenced by a slender finger against his lip.

"Do you remember Mt. Glenn?"

He nodded along dumbly, eyes wide.

"Do you remember a certain thing or two you said I could do to pay you back?" The Amazonian seemed to purr. Jaune's eyes shot past the admittedly gorgeous redhead very much right in front of him to those in the Bullhead with them. They looked just as shocked and amazed as him; good, he wasn't hallucinating.

"I think I'm finally going to pay you back for all this. What were your words? Dinner and a movie? I think that sounds splendid. What do you think?" She asked, finally removing her finger, as well as her hands, from him while taking a step back.

Jaune finally took in a breathe, unaware he had been suffocating himself. His face felt like Weiss had set him alight with Myrtenaster again, and butterflies were most certainly swarming inside his chest. His palms were sweaty, and either the Bullhead was taking evasive actions or he was lightheaded.

* * *

The Arc finally managed to open his mouth, only to close it again. He shook his head, before getting down on one knee. His eyes watered.

"Pyrrha," he stumbled over his words. "Will you...will you…"

Everyone could only stare, mouths agape as they watched Jaune reach into his back pocket. Even Nora had regained consciousness, just in time to see her team leader propose.

No one noticed one short, little woman fumble awake, mouth wide in horror at what she was seeing.

Jaune Arc reached behind his back, fumbling with his back pocket. Fingers firmly securing themselves around his coveted object of desire, said Arc pulled it out.

Everyone gazed upon the...blue bag. Before it was hidden from sight by Jaune's crouched form. The sounds of gagging however made it abundantly clear what was transpiring.

Awkward silence reigned supreme over the room for all of three seconds before snickering was heard. All eyes converged to one Ruby Rose, who was doing her utmost best to not guffaw loudly. The Reaper, however, wasn't doing a very good job of it.

Hers was soon followed by quiet giggles coming from the seat next to her. Weiss held her hand up to her mouth for a few moments before she gave up entirely and let her hands shoot to her sides. It was the laughter of Yang, slowly, but surely, rising in volume, that followed theirs, and soon enough everybody with the exception of Ren and Pyrrha were laughing their hearts out.

The stoic of JNPR just smiled, content to hover over Nora, who was laughing the hardest of them all, despite the pain it caused her.

It was the redhead of team JNPR who proved to be the outlier. The only person not laughing at Jaune's comedic plight. Like the partner she had always proven to be; a great one, she was right beside Jaune through the thick of it. With a small smile on her face, her heart soared when he gave her a thumbs up without looking.

* * *

"So, how're you holding up?" Yang asked, wiping away a tear as she addressed her dearest little sister, whom she was to the left of.

"I'm fine, really." Ruby exclaimed, irritated by the doubtful looks that the rest of her team were shooting her.

"You slammed into the Bullhead. I think you almost left an indent." Blake replied, her monotone voice making it clear she wasn't joking.

"It wasn't that bad. The Creep would've done much worse." She tried to reason, gesturing with her hands in an attempt to relieve their worries.

"It really was, Ruby. Even Vomit Boy over there knew how bad it was." Yang mumbled, her low voice conveying her seriousness.

"What do you mean?" Their leader asked in bewilderment.

"The do- Jaune, looked like he was ready to jump into the fray with Yang. He was seething, and believe me, I know seething." Weiss explained, still seated beside Ruby, with Blake now flanking her right side.

"Y-yeah? Honestly, it wasn't as bad as it must've looked." The Reaper murmured more to herself than anyone. It was abundantly clear that her focus had shifted, as her gaze now met the floor, and the rest of RWBY sent each other looks that confirmed they had all noticed it.

"Remnant to Ruby. Are you _sure_ you're alright?" The busty blonde asked, pulling Ruby into a side hug, the seat limiting her somewhat.

The younger girl puffed puffed her cheeks to show just how much that question was getting on her nerves. Hands shooting to her hips, she replied, "Now you listen here, Missy! I'm the leader here, and I know everyone's limits, mine included. Now, if any of you ask me again, I'll, I'll…"

"I'll make _you_ walk Zwei everyday for a month!" Ruby threatened, pointing at Blake with two hands to show how she was serious. Weiss and Yang snickered at the look of betrayal the cat Faunus shot her leader.

"AND YOU! I'll revoke your shower rank, to deadlast, and stop allowing you to pay me to clean it when it's your turn!" She shouted, flames slowly trickling into her cruel, cruel silver eyes; or at least that's what Weiss swore she saw.

Yang's cry of, "What do you need money for?!" Went ignored.

It was then that the short redhead focused her sights on her sister. Ruby's pout was met pound for pound by the smirk plastered on Yang's face. She had nothing on her.

"I'll tell them." Was all the scythe-wielder muttered with cool eyes and a cold tone.

Yang was on her knees in the blink of an eye, hands clasped together, pleading for mercy.

"N-now Ruby! Think about what you're saying! Think about all the embarrassing baby pictures I have of you! You don't want to do this, right?!" The lilac-eyed beauty feebly reasoned.

"I don't care." Ruby replied, humming in content as she scoffed at Yang just like Weiss had taught her.

"Alright, alright! I'll listen, Sir! You won't hear another peep from me! I'll stop hogging the shower in the mornings! I'll even stop taking money from your piggy bank, just don't!"

"Very well." She said, managing a stern face for about another dozen seconds before she started to snicker at her sister's antics. Yang bristled but endured the ridicule from her team and questioning stares team JNPR was sending her as she returned to her seat, refusing to acknowledge Blake and Weiss, who were already pleading, or in Weiss' case, bribing, Ruby to tell them.

* * *

Jaune sat down warily.

The worst was over.

He snorted to himself when he realized that in his melodramatic musing about the airsickness, he had also described the training day.

' _One hell of a workout, though I'm not sure if we got as much team training in as what we wanted. Hell, I didn't even get to try the shield thing with Pyr.'_

The blonde male flinched as his eyes started to wander towards the beauty that was his partner- in the work sense!

Jaune fidgeted in his seat, cursing himself for being so easily flustered. Granted, he knew Pyrrha was an absolute 10, and he didn't think many people wouldn't squirm like him, but that wasn't the point!

The leader of JNPR tried going through the motions of a breathing exercise his loyal y-chromosome toting teammate had taught him. His mind crept back to happier, simpler times.

Without wickedly awesome powers and flirty redheads. Back when Pyrrha just liked him like a friend. She would offer to tutor him with school work whenever he was a bit out of his league, always encouraged and reassured him he'd make a great leader, and not to mention all those intense training sessions on the roof.

Boy, she worked him like a dog sometimes! Hell, half the time, they'd end up lying on top of one another at the end of the night, too tired to separate their limbs from the tangled mess. If the nights were extra warm, he'd even shed the armor plates and the hoodie. He had thought the skin on skin contact inappropriate the first time Pyrrha had ended up crashing into him, but she had reassured him it was nothing… just friendly sparring…

' _For fuck's sake!'_

Jaune groaned loudly, his forehead slumping into hands.

' _I...I was so blind!'_

While he was busy slamming the back of his head against the metal wall of the Bullhead, he had failed to notice his fellow leader walk right up to him, and take a seat right besides him.

"You, uh, alright there, Vomit boy?" Ruby asked, a small smile on her lips. She chuckled as another groan came from the young man's lips.

"Damn it. You guys aren't ever going to let that go, are you?" Jaune whined in between his fingers, face firmly planted in his hands.

"Not any time soon." She informed him in a sing song voice, although she ended up nudging him with her shoulder when he genuinely frowned and remained quiet.

"Hey, cheer up. I can… I can tell everyone to calm down with the teasing, ya know? We only do it because you laugh along with us. You know none of it's real, right?" Ruby's voice came off as downtrodden but hopeful.

"Hm? Oh, that. Don't worry about that, Rubes. It's this date that's making me nervous honestly. But thanks for the offer. It's nice, knowing you guys care about me." Jaune admitted with a small smile of his own.

"Oh. Yeah... _w-we_ care about you Jaune. That, uh, _date_ , though. What's wrong with it? I thought you would love it, since, you know, it's Pyrrha and all…" Ruby trailed, and if Jaune picked up on the insecurity in her voice, he didn't show it.

"I know, heh, that it may come as a shock to you Ruby, but, well, you see…" Jaune struggled to form the words, smiling bashfully at Ruby as he scratched his head. He was met with a flat stare.

"You've never been on a date before. Everything I know is a lie…"

"Ha, ha. So funny I forgot to laugh. I mean, I know plenty _about_ dating. What? Don't give me that look. You pick up a lot of things growing up with seven sisters. I've watched many a corny rom-com in my day."

"Sooo, what's the problem, Mr. Expert?"

"Well, you know how I do… performance-wise." The blonde trailed, reluctant to admit his shortcomings at basically everything, at least, at first.

"I know of no such thing, Mr. Arc. And I wouldn't go on talking about your conquests if you want to continue having a date to worry about."

"T-that's not what I meant!" He choked out, glaring at Ruby, who was busy laughing at him. Then, to his utter bewilderment, she stopped. A cold gleam made its way into her eyes.

"We have to talk about, whatever the hell _**it**_ was." Ruby whispered into his ear, the quake in her voice making it obvious how she felt about it.

"I know. I thought...it felt like...I don't know." Jaune admitted as his thoughts went back to the Darkness that he and Ruby had occupied near the beginning of the training session, feeling like it had happened a century ago.

"Well, you better think of something, because Blake's demanding answers too." The Reaper informed him. The blonde's eyes widened as they instinctively shot to the faunus in the room, who nodded at him in confirmation.

' _Did she notice?...'_

Jaune's question went unanswered as Ruby's hand waved frantically in front of his face.

"What?"

"Well… It's not just Blake that has questions." The redhead admitted as she dug her toe into the ground.

What she meant was made abundantly clear when the rest of Team RWBY made their way over to the duo, only using glances as a means of communication. Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren did the same when they saw that their leader had been surrounded by their sister team, and made their way over as well, curious as to what was going on.

"Alright, Lady Killer, don't you go thinking that just because you had a badass moment outside the Bullhead with me will by any means not have me break your leg. Just one, since blondes have to stick together and all that." Yang explained with a smile that seemed to aspire to be heartwarming, but came off as predatory; that's how Jaune say it any how.

"We came along being told of a lax day of training with your team out at the Emerald Forest, with low Grimm resistance expected. I had even vouched for the damn thing, pardon my language! So, you're going to give it to us from the top! Starting with this suicidal Semblance of yours!"

"Fair enough! Fair enough!" Jaune yelled, holding his hands in surrender.

"It would be nice if you elaborated on your Semblance a bit more. I doubt you purposefully neglected to tell us all of it." Ren added in his own two lien. It seemed even his own teammates were siding against him.

"Perhaps Jaune was just trying to keep a competitive edge? A Semblance can easily sway the tide in any duel, after all." Pyrrha said in tone that somewhat mirrored a teacher or mentor, as she was speaking from experience. "Although, even I confessed my Semblance to you all…" She admitted with a reluctant smile as she rubbed her arm, realizing that she had defeated her own point in her attempts to defend Jaune.

"Gee, thanks, Pyr."

Her 'I'm sorry!' went unheard as Weiss pushed herself to the front of the group, who had all been slowly moving forward onto Jaune.

"It's not all anger...he did a lot of good out there today. I'm not afraid to admit he saved my life at one point on the battlefield. Even if he totally ruined a perfectly good outfit…" The small sneer she sent him couldn't quite manage to hide the gratitude within.

"I get it, I get it. You guys know I wouldn't keep anything from you, doubt I could if I wanted to. I'm just still… learning. I did some things I didn't know I could do today."

"Like that orb of darkness you created to obliterate half of that Nevermore." Ren pointed out, everyone nodding along.

"Or that thing you did with the floor. Those," Pyrrha struggled to think of a description, "sticks, I suppose."

"And that spike projectile you used to save me." Weiss added.

"You sure did learn a lot on the fly, didn't you? Did we get everything? You run everything by us?" Blake asked, though it sounded more like a demand to his ears.

"I really did. Look, guys, I'm sorry for putting you all in danger, I'm just trying to get a sense of the new Semblance. You guys know that... I haven't had much time to work on it." Jaune explained, head hung in shame.

It went unsaid that _it_ was a blanket term for experience in general.

"Ah, we forgive you, Jaune. Don't we, team?" Ruby asked as she threw herself into the seat besides Jaune, slinging an arm around his shoulders, managing a bright smile despite the slight pain her actions caused her.

His ears were treated the wondrous symphony of half-hearted 'sures' and indifferent 'mehs.' His eyes, however, had the honor of meeting amber eyes that promised the issue wasn't done; not by a long shot.

Jaune was brought out of the brief staring match when he felt Pyrrha sit down besides him and sling her own arm around him, pulling him into a proximity he wouldn't have dreamed of at the start of the semester.

He coughed into his fist, cheeks tinted, making his apparent embarrassment over the unusually public act of affection, initiated by Pyrrha no less, quite obvious. The Arc barely noticed the missing warmth Ruby's own arm had been providing, and he entirely missed the face she made when he was quite literally pulled from her grasp.

Had he seen it, however, the conflicting emotions that only briefly flashed across her face wouldn't have been anything he could garner any information out of. At least, not without a long talk with perhaps more privacy.

"Guys, guys, guys! I think we're all missing the bigger picture here! Wasn't the whole point of this trip to kill some Grimm?" Nora asked aloud, gesturing with her arms that the question was on the floor for anyone to answer.

"It was meant to be a inter-team exercise." Blake stated quietly when nobody answered the ginger.

"And didn't we do just that? Unless Jaune here suddenly started making Glyphs! You and Pyrrha worked together pretty well, didn't you? I think we all did a good job today! Don't tell me I'm the only one!"

Again, Nora was met with silence for a few moments, until a wary sigh was heard. Everyone watched as Ren trudged over to Nora, who, in her excitement, had leapt away from her seat so as to speak from the center of the bullhead.

"She's not wrong. I, too, feel the day was not in vain."

"I second that!" Pyrrha cried out.

"Me too!" Ruby yelled out as well.

"Ditto." Yang relinquished with a smirk, crossing her arms as she took a seat.

"I can't disagree." Blake mumbled as she read a pocket-sized version of what Ruby recognized as Ninjas Of Love.

Everyone's eyes fell upon the only person in the ship besides the pilot who had yet to give their opinion.

Weiss crossed her arms in a similar fashion to Yang, only she had turned to have everyone at her back. One shoulder-shrug followed by a, "I guess it's unanimous then," later, and everyone had finally returned to their seats, exhaustion finally having claimed their souls, as the two teams spent the remainder of the trip back to Beacon, and no doubt the mandatory infirmary check-up afterwards, in content silence, smiles, though varying in degree, adorning all their faces.

* * *

Pyrrha _seethed_.

While she wouldn't claim to have the same control over her emotions like her teammate Ren, she still had a better than average grip on them. It came with the status, naturally. Dealing with raving fans, who varied from awestruck at her very sight to borderline fanatical, trainers who demanded more than they knew she could give and fully expected to receive it, as well as manipulative agents out to further themselves with her name, had prepared her well.

Years of all of that was still not enough, apparently.

Her fists clenched in anger, and she had to actively stop herself from reaching for Milo. The Invincible Girl's face was set in a stern frown, making her discomfort with the situation _extremely_ obvious. And the one thing she had found to adore and simultaneously hate about Jaune was currently breaking the scales as it sat on the wrong end of the spectrum.

Jaune Arc sat there, _**oblivious**_ to the two redheaded warriors in the room who were hiding their anger with varying levels of success, as that _**slut**_ of a nurse attended to him.

"And you killed that big, bad Nevermore all on your own?"

"Oh, well, it wasn't all by myself. The others were there to offer me support and all that." The Arc gushed, smiling at Rita as she pulled up his sleeve.

"Those are the big ones, aren't they?" The nurse asked with awe in her voice as she checked his bulging biceps, which Pyrrha and Ruby had unknowingly both thought; first of all, his arms weren't bulging, and second of all, Jaune's scrawny arms weren't for her eyes. They ended their internal rant only to see Rita was still searching for a vein in a manner that they were certain would be recognized as lustful and inappropriate.

Well, they certainly thought so, even if their teammates didn't seem to think so. Battle exhaustion, is what they summed of the rest of their teams were afflicted with when they insisted Rita was being completely efficient and proficient.

"Yeah, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Huntsman in training and all that, you get used to dealing with tight situations, I'm sure you know."

"Oh, I'm certain you know your way around a tight situation. But, I'm just a civilian, surrounded by all these _powerful_ men, like you, I wouldn't know what to do if I ever ran into a Grimm, heaven forbid!"

"...slutiest shade of red… not a real doctor… other patients…"

Yang looked over at her younger sister in shock. The amusement she would've normally had at an opportunity to tease her younger sister, as well as the smaller but still there need to chastise her language, when over her head as she registered just what her sister was being jealous over.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, Rita! If anything should ever come to happen, just find me, and I'll make sure to keep you safe."

Ren's eyes widened as he saw the needle in Rita's hand, the one that admittedly had been sitting idly in her hand, neglected for the last five minutes, begin to _bend_ in on itself.

"Oh, would you look at that, Nurse. Your needle seems to be less than adequate. You wouldn't want that dirty old thing in you, Jaune, you might catch something." Pyrrha pointed out with a straight face that would've fooled anyone; that wasn't a student attending Beacon Academy.

"Mh. Yes, you're right. How strange… I'll be just a minute. Do put on a strong face and try to hang on knowing that I'll be back soon, alright?" Rita asked of Jaune as she patted his arm, her hand _stopping_ on his arm.

Ren was ready to reach forward, eyes warily watching Pyrrha, expecting to see the Amazonian's hand twitch towards her weapon, until turquoise eyes filled with far too much mirth to _not_ be aware of the potential conflict.

"You have beautiful eyes." Nora informed the stoic.

"I know what you are trying to do, Nora. Can you stop it, please?"

"Let the madness take you, Renny. Enjoy the show."

The male orphan sighed, reaching to pinch his nose, one of the few habits he allowed himself. Ren looked over at his sister team to see if he could garner any sort of support from them.

Ruby seemed rather upset herself; he deduced this from the way she was clenching fistfuls of her cloak repeatedly. And the pacing, which may or may not have been an attempt on her part to make a tunnel to escape the infirmary, was also something to be taken into consideration.

It was to the stoic's surprise when two bells seemed to chime simultaneously, stopping Ruby dead in her tracks as she instinctively reached for her vibrating scroll, his leader mirroring the girl's action.

"To the leaders of Team JNPR and RWBY, Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc. Both of your presences are required in my office the moment you're allowed to leave the infirmary." The two leaders read aloud, relaying the information to the rest of the room's occupants.

"I… almost forgot about the mission report." Jaune admitted to everyone with a sigh, head hung in sadness; Pyrrha was quick to rush to his side, already rubbing circles into his back as she reassured him it would all be fine.

"Pyrrha makes an excellent point. While this technically wasn't a mission, the events certainly warrant being scrutinized by the staff, and I've no doubt they'll want to know more of the situation." Weiss pointed out, looking at Ruby, who _definitely_ wasn't trying to tiptoe her way out the door.

"Relax, sis, you didn't do anything wrong. Glynda isn't around to yell at you guys, either! Besides, if things do seem to go south, you can just blame it all on Jaune anyways!" Yang reasoned as she threw an arm around her smaller siblings shoulder and pulled her back into the fray.

"You should count yourselves lucky. Ozpin ordered you to head to the infirmary before the meeting, I can think of one Headmaster in particular who would've done it the other way around." Blake said aloud, eyes never wandering from the book she held in her lap, as she sat content in a chair off in the corner of the room.

"Yeah, lucky, I guess so. Well, honestly, I feel fine, might as well get it over with. You ready to go, Ruby?" Jaune asked of her as he quickly went through the process of donning his armor.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Jaune? I'm sure you think you feel fine, but you looked a bit worse for wear at times throughout the battle." Pyrrha pointed out, concern clear in her eyes, as well as the inflection in her words.

"I'm sure, Pyr. I know I'm not at everyone's level quite yet," he began, ignoring the unintelligible mumbling of the other blonde present in the room, "but give me some credit. I know my limits, I found them training with you, after all." The Arc finished just as his arms wrapped around the Mistral Champion, pulling her into a short, but tight hug.

"Of course." Pyrrha blubbered out, flustered at the act, though she had done more in the past.

"Alright, let's not drag it out any longer then. I'll see you guys back at the dorm." The Knight yelled out as he exited the room, following after Ruby, whom he failed to notice had suddenly become much more eager to leave the room.

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 **Prick: And that's all she wrote. How did you guys like the return of Rita? Love her, hate her, comment about it in the… *slams three fifty on Fate's desk***

 **Fate: *Without so much as looking up from my face down sitting position, I pocket the money and take an almost inhumanly deep breath.* In our lovely Review section that we** _ **oh, so love**_ **to read and add into each of our chapters. So much so, we are hell bent on adding them into every chapter.**

 **Fate: Oh, and Prick has a Facebook page for Lunar Rose where we'll be putting up status reports or other random things to keep you all involved. Get rid of the spaces in this link or search Joh Smith up into Facebook and it's the one with the Lunar Rose picture.**

 **https : . ?id=100012626284398**


	25. The 2nd First Date

**Chapter Twenty-Five:** _The Second_

 _First Date or Dateception_

 _Part Uno_

 **Fate: Here's Chapter 25, we'll keep the banter short this time.**

 _ **Check it out, people! Keep tabs on the story, talk with us, and generally just have fun!**_

 _ **Reviews: ¡Con El Prick!**_

 **Valyrym: Heeeeyyy! We were just kidding buddy! I totally didn't think the paper bomb in the mail worked…**

 **Guest(1): Dude, here's the Lancaster part you came for!**

 **Guest(2): Is eleven days soon enough for you? I hope it was.**

 **RPGPersona: Yet another repeating reviewer, thanks so much! Ever astute as always, all those things are true. You and the rest of the world want to know what that secret is, don't you? Near death experiences do do that, yes. The powers...yes, question them. Hmmm…. And I'm glad to see you appreciated the awkwardness that is Jaune's obliviousness. And come on, Rita is just trying to get some, is there anything wrong with that?**

 **Momijifan Low-Ki: Yeah, Jaune has this way about him, where he's all charming unknowingly and what not, until he isn't, and then he's just exclusively infuriating. And Ruby can indeed be savage.**

 **CaptinGrevious: Rita is most certainly a wrench in the gears, to some people. Specifically, redheads. Who like spears. And sniper-scythes.**

 **Prick: Not as many reviews this time, guys! Come on, was it the long wait that occurred with 23? I hope to see more of you guys come back and show your support! Anyways, I hope to see your thoughts on my hand at making an OMAKE! That's right, an omake! Hopefully, you guys take to it. I'll be doing more, and I'll even do fan requests!**

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Jaune drummed his fingers on the table. He coughed into his fist, looked over to his left, gazed but didn't focus on anything specific, then turned to the right and let his mind wander, just for the sake of balance and to assure Pyrrha he wasn't checking anyone out. Speaking of Pyrrha…

Jaune smiled, a sheepish and awkward smile that showed enough teeth to have him question whether or not he was flashing too many, directed at his lovely date.

Pyrrha returned the smile, completing their ritual for the fifth time. The Arc found her smile out of place, the bustling activity of families and screeching children mixed with clearly overworked staff rushing to provide service with a smile just didn't fit.

Maybe it was the lighting? The blond wracked his brain, trying to remember whether or not his Mother had ever commented negatively about the lighting in a buffet-style restaurant, but failed as the attempt only brought flashes of food-splattered sundresses and his Father shielding him from a fate Jaune only now was beginning to fully conceive.

The wrath of a scorned woman.

* * *

"That, uh...that really sucked." Jaune sighed aloud to his only companion in the descending elevator.

"Yeah. On the bright side, it looked like Professor Goodwitch was mostly the one upset!" Ruby pointed out, managing to put a bit of pep into her words. She closed the distance between the two and bumped his shoulder when he seemed to hesitate just as he was about to say something.

"To be honest, I think it didn't seem as bad because she was reprimanding us through her Scroll." The Arc timidly admitted, the thought of having to face a pissed off Goodwitch in person sending shivers down his spine.

"You...have a point there. Oh well, at least Ozpin seemed kinda impressed. I think today seriously caught his attention for you, congrats!"

"Thanks." He grinned at her, though it faded a bit when he saw her her biting her lip, eyes glued to the floor. Before he could question her about it, she leapt forward, though there was hardly any distance to leap, and wrapped her arms around him.

Jaune returned the hug when he realized he was receiving one, his arms easily looping around the younger girl's thin frame. It was actually rather common of Ruby, as he had learned when the redhead persisted to give him them, awkward attempt after awkward attempt.

The Knight unknowingly took a deep breath, not moving to end the hug. It dawned on him that Ruby had stopped hugging of late, and he sort of missed it.

It wasn't until the one minute mark passed did Jaune become aware of how long the hug had lasted. Much to his surprise, when he tried to step back from the hug, Ruby's grip on him tightened. Before he could question it, he felt the younger girl bury her head into his chest, and the sounds of her whimpering reached his ears.

"Ruby, what's wrong?"

"Jaune...what was _it_?" The terror in her shrill voice was clear.

"I...I don't know." The Arc pulled her closer, returning the gesture out of compassion just as much as he did so out of necessity. After all, he was scared too.

It went without saying that the two were referring to the time spent in the dark abyss that didn't seem to exist. It had saved their lives, yet they had no idea what it was or by whom it was created, if it was created at all. Were it not for the knowledge they had exchanged inside of it, they would've assumed they had gone mad and hallucinated the entire event; assuming it never happened, since that's how it seemed to everybody else.

Both of them had questioned their teammates on their landing under the guise of practicing what they would report to Ozpin. Everyone agreed, Jaune slammed into the ground, Aura flashing dark grey of all colors, and absorbing the fall. They had been skeptical, and Jaune had chalked it up to another factor of his newfound Semblance. He was met with the same amount of reluctant resistance, and it had been Pyrrha once more who came to his defense, reminding everybody that Semblances could honestly be anything imaginable, and it would be redundant to question his anymore.

"W-why didn't you tell Ozpin about it, Jaune?" Ruby managed to sound both needy and betrayed. She knew the headmaster wasn't infallible, but he always seemed to have the right answers to just about everything. And she so _desperately_ wanted to know…

"I didn't think it was a good idea…" He admitted, unsure of why, only aware that he was. "Why didn't you tell him about it?" The question came out of his lips as quickly as it popped into his head.

"I trust you." The words came easily from her, far too easily, in Jaune's opinion, considering how much weight those words carried. She, Ruby Rose, _the_ prodigy of _the_ prestigious Beacon Academy, trusted in him wholeheartedly.

" _But why_?" Jaune had never revealed so much vulnerability so willingly. He hated the thought of being weak in front of anyone, especially after training so hard to reach a modicum of strength and skill. But it wasn't an issue, not with Ruby Rose. Never with her.

"Because I do. I know I can count on you. You're strong, you're smarter than anyone thought possible when we need it, and… and you're my friend. I'll always be there, and I know you'll always be here for me. You, my bumbling Knight, made it here, in Beacon, of all places. It's reserved for the best of the best, you know?"

It was only after she finished speaking did Ruby begin to step out of the hug, to Jaune's surprise. And to his much more _immense_ surprise, she separated so as the last thing in contact wasn't their chests, or their hands, but their faces. Specifically, a kiss, from her, to him.

It was on the cheek, but Jaune swore it reached the edge of his lips.

"W-what was that for?" The blond bumbled out, his hand reaching to touch his cheek where the lingering presence of her lips remained.

"What? That? I was just congratulating you." Ruby replied nonchalantly, the Arc expecting her to flutter her eyelashes innocently.

"But with a… a kiss? You've never done that before, you caught me off guard is all." Jaune chuckled weakly, scratching his chin. He realized he had a bit of a wet spot on his cheek, and rubbed it with his thumb. Staring down at the light pink smeared digit, he realized it was lip gloss.

"It was just a friendly kiss, nothing wrong with that, right? That's all it was."

Jaune found his focus divided, unable to remove his gaze from Ruby's shiny lips, and couldn't decide whether or not she had asked two questions.

"Y-yeah."

"Good, I'm glad we settled that." Ruby's words didn't seem to be aware of her body's actions, as she stepped into his personal bubble once more to nuzzle his chest, head eventually craning to look up at him.

"That's great, me too!" The Arc slowly added, taking her hands off of his chest and into his own, firmly nudging her to take a step back. He had to resist the urge to shiver when her impossibly soft fingers caressed his hands. His hands had become sensitive from having his gloves on from early in the morning to about five minutes before they had visited the infirmary and Ruby's hands felt heaven sent because of it.

Despite being disappointed about her relocation away from his chest, she still counted it as a victory when she got to hold Jaune's hands. She wondered if Jaune liked the gloss she had snuck on when they were finishing up with that _slut_ of a nurse. He did seem to look at her lips for a bit, after all. At least, she hoped he was looking and she didn't have something in her teeth or something. She was tempted to check but was suddenly distracted by the sensation of Jaune squeezing her hands, which pulled her eyes up to meet his. When silver met cobalt, the young Huntress-in-training felt her heart flutter. As she held her gaze with him, she couldn't stop herself from moving back towards him. She smiled when her advance was met with a mutual, if only slightly reluctant smile. The close but silent proximity allowed her to feel the warmth of his body and drink in his scent, rousing a sigh of content from her soft and glossy lips.

While Jaune loved her presence, he felt the urge to step back again or try to keep her from getting further into his personal space. Even with the nagging voice in the back of his head, he let her move back in towards him. They both had a long day after all, and he did make it worse for everyone - especially her, if the bandages on her head were an indicator. While the sight reminded Jaune of the that bastard that hurt her, may he be mauled by a Ursa on his way back to Beacon, the Knight couldn't help but find seeing her hair being mildly obsured was oddly alluring. Her dark red strands had been framing the sides of her face like usual, but now a few long strands had been resting gently around her cute nose. She'd look great in a hat.

" _Jaune_ …"

 _A beat._

"Ruby.."

Hearing him say her name like that, even though he didn't quite return the exact same feelings, told her that he was certainly not against whatever was happening right now, it caused Ruby to give in and pull her hands out of his and give him a tight squeeze, resting her lips ever so gently near the base of his neck and near his collarbone. She felt Jaune shudder as she breathed against his tender skin, bringing a smile to her lips. His reaction gave her an idea. Without so much as thinking about the consequences of the situation, she decided to kiss and gently nibble along his collarbone.

Jaune was reeling from the feeling of Ruby's heated breaths and her oral ministrations. He felt his heartbeat spike as he held her closer and much more firmly. She could hear his breathing and he could feel her small and soft body pressing against his. Once she was held against him so snuggly, she let out a sound that could only be described as a cross between the soft sigh of someone who could die happily and the purr of someone who wanted to experience some sort of satisfaction before that.

"..Ruby…" Jaune whispered her name, not as if he was afraid anyone else could hear, but with the intent that only she could hear him in such a way. And that _intoxicated_ her.

The Reaper found her head beginning to swim and her body growing warmer from the sensory overload of feeling him completely as he slowly trailed his right hand along her back and hearing the masterpiece of his lungs working, his heart beating, and his voice so hushed that each word was treasure to her ears. She gently bit her lip to make sure she wasn't hallucinating it all from some sort of concussion.

Her smaller hands trailed up his body to grip into his blond hair with tenderness to show affection but firm enough to convey she wanted more. And more is what she would have. Without wasting another second, Ruby turned her beautiful silver eyes to meet the deep blue of her best friend - and maybe more? - before standing on her toes, causing them to grind a bit against each other, and pulling his head lower to hers.

The combination of her sweet breath filling his nostrils, her intoxicating touch, and the sight of her soft, glossy lips made the Knight forget about _everything,_ but her. The world outside their embrace didn't matter and couldn't even make it into his after thoughts. His body, mind, and very being was answering the call of Ruby's, a call he felt he simply couldn't deny any longer.

Both of them had began to slowly close their eyes as their lips came from inches to milimeters away from one another, so close that he swore he could taste the strawberries...

 _Then the door opened._

* * *

With a start, both Ruby and Jaune all but threw themselves from each other with terribly red faces. The blond found himself rubbing the back of his head while the red head bite her lip. Neither of them moved or gazed at the same location for more than a brief moment.

' _I can't believe I did that.'_ The thought flashed through both of the elevator's occupants' heads. They both tried to cease the labored breathing and the heartbeats in their chests that had become nearly painful.

Ruby wanted more, she wanted the kiss that she was just denied. She could feel it in her bones. She wanted to press the highest button on the damned elevator and pin Jaune against the wall, kissing him the entire time up there until she literally died in his arms from lack of air.

Jaune wasn't certain of what he wanted, he was conflicted. He knew he'd be happy to slam the emergency stop button and spend the time that'd buy them continuing what they started, whatever that was. While he knew that, he also knew he shouldn't. They were friends, best friends, and he couldn't cross that barrier. Could he? It didn't even dawn on him that he was already in the works of a relationship with another prominent redhead in his life.

Eventually, they calmed their bodies, but they failed to calm their minds. Seconds went by and not a word was uttered while they continued their game of who could look everywhere but at each other.

It wasn't until the door began to close that they willed their bodies to move. Unfortunately for them, they both decided to move at the exact same time with the exact same plan. Now they were donning the same expression as they ended up bumping into each other by the hip while their hands met once again when they both tried to stop the doors from shutting them into their awkward prison.

Rather than panic, both leaders slowly turned their eyes back towards each other and spared a dorky smile to one another.

"This is my stop." Jaune joked, hoping to lighten the mood with an awful joke.

"Oh, what a coincidence, mine too." Ruby went along with a small laugh. The joke was terrible, but it was _his_ joke so her body couldn't help but laugh.

"Is that so?" The Arc then decided to gesture himself as if he were holding the door open for her while simultaneously bowing. "Then please, after you."

"Why thank you, my dear Knight. Yours is truly a kind gesture." Ruby placed one leg behind the other and curtsied to match her mocking regal tone before stepping out of the elevator. Once she was out, she turned and waited for him with a wide smile.

"Pfft, dork." Jaune snickered out as he joined her as they stood in the lobby of the tower.

"You're one to talk, dork!" The young girl yelled with her cheeks puffed out as she gave Jaune a stern look.

"What, me? My dorkiness is charming." The blond dork feigned being hurt by placing his left hand over his chest. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he loved the way she looked at him.

"Ha, sure. Whatever you tell yourself." Ruby teased, lightly bouncing with each step before she turned towards him. "Then what is mine, Sir Charming?"

' _Utterly fucking adorable.'_ Jaune immediately thought to himself. "Your dorkiness is cute, Ruby."

* * *

The two students of Beacon traversed the prestigious academy slowly, traveling in the general direction of their dorm rooms. The late evening at Beacon usually proved a quiet one, as the majority of its alumni moved either to their dorms to escape the chilly air, or were busy enjoying their free time away as most their age were apt to; a night out in the town of Vale.

Tonight proved an exception, as most things including Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose seemed to do. The halls echoed with their light chatter, giggles and hearty chuckles bouncing from wall to wall, and if the noise bothered anyone, they didn't make themselves known, for as far as the traveling duo were concerned, they were the only people in the world at the moment.

The infamous speedster seemed to have spontaneously grown a deep appreciation for architecture, as she slowly shuffled along, seemingly absorbing in all the details of the halls she'd walked again and again for the past few months. There was, however, more than a fair share of glances thrown at her blond companion, and vice versa, though the constant eye contact would seem to imply they were doing more than glancing.

This continued for the entire trip, and neither one of them would've had it any other way. They did, however, settle into a companionable silence when their dorm building came into view. A word wasn't uttered as Jaune held the door open for Ruby, to which he received an appreciative nod for his troubles. It was only until they rounded the final corridor that would lead them to their hallway did the redhead deem it appropriate to break the silence.

"Back to the ol' dorms then, huh?"

"Yeah. Sure our teams are missing us and all that."

"That's true. Plus, you have your date with Pyrrha and all that."

She had said it so casually, Jaune almost missed it. He practically spun in place, turning to question Ruby.

Pyrrha, what happened in the elevator, everything in between… it _all_ came to him. He brought his hands up to lips both in horror and to keep him from letting anything out as a sense of dread churned in his stomach. His mind reminded him of the lush feeling of Pyrrha's lips on his own, and the electric shocks that rushed across him when Ruby's own lips danced along his skin.

Jaune's head was swimming. He felt his knees buckle, and closed his eyes, body clenching as he prepared to meet the firm embrace of the floor. Instead, he blinked his eyes open a moment later when he realized the slowest fall ever wasn't really happening. His hands went to the two already holding him firmly and used them as support to pick himself up. Ruby had apparently cau-

"Oh! Jaune, are you alright?!" He'd recognize that polite tone anywhere, be it a battlefield, a crowded auditorium, or the hallway outside their dorm room.

"I-I'm fine. I'm good, I mean. Everything's all right." If his words sounded half as guilty to them as it did to him, then they'd surely know he had done something wrong.

"That's good to hear. So, it must've gone well?"

 _A beat._

"I think it went great. Better than I thought it would." Ruby eventually answered Pyrrha's question, sending Jaune a smile.

"Is that so? Ozpin and Glynda weren't upset with you?" The Champion asked, continuing to timidly stand in the spot in the doorway.

"Well, Ozpin didn't seem very upset. Concerned, more than anything. And… I don't know, interested, I guess, would be the word." Jaune knew that wasn't what Ruby was referring to, but Pyrrha didn't need to know that. He rubbed his arm, unable to meet Pyrrha's gaze.

"That's good to hear." It took the Arc a moment to realize Pyrrha was pulling his head up by the chin with her finger. A weak smile was flashed, and it was returned with a genuine one so full of charm it honestly hurt him. His chest tightened painfully as Pyrrha pulled him into a gentle hug.

He shook his head violently when he compared the feeling of his partner's body to Ruby's own soft body.

"Jaune! Are you certain everything is alright?"

' _That's the Nikos for you. A cosmic force to be reckoned with in an arena, and a caring soul who couldn't harm a fly outside of it.'_ Jaune thought bitterly, upset with himself.

"I'm just...really tired. And glad to be home." The blond quietly muttered, his eyes meeting hers. There truly was exhaustion in his eyes, that much was clear.

"I'm glad you're home too, you know." Pyrrha whispered, her hands slowly moving to caress his face. His breath hitched as she leaned forward, their lips meeting quickly.

The Amazonian wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him closer into the kiss. She almost ended it when a few seconds passed without any interaction from him, but, before she could pull away, he suddenly seemed to spring into the kiss. His own arms locked around her waist, and the kiss became a lot more passionate and firm. It only lasted for a moment though, and Pyrrha made it known she wasn't expecting it to be so brief when she looked at him in question.

"Save it for the date tomorrow, right?" Jaune smiled warmly at her as he side-stepped a shocked and blushing Pyrrha and entered his dorm, the door closing behind him. No one noticed that he had stopped in the frame of the door for a moment, throwing a gaze over his shoulder at a redhead, more specifically, her red and black shoes; he couldn't manage to look any higher.

The Champion of Mistral stood in the hall, stunned into submission, until the quiet sound of team RWBY's door closing brought her out of her trance.

' _Was she there the whole time?'_

Coughing into her fist, the armored Huntress-in-training turned to enter her own dorm, her mind entertaining a thousand thoughts, almost all of them about tomorrow's evening. And one lingering thought about Ruby.

* * *

Ruby walked into her dorm room with a solemn expression that suggested the last hour, or the better part of it, wasn't possibly the best time she'd had in the entirety of her time at Beacon.

The room's occupants were quick to pick up on it.

"Hey there, why the long face, sis?" Yang asked, voice boisterous with fake cheer. The only difference between this and the fake smile Ruby gave her in response was that Ruby fell for it.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"You looked upset." Weiss quickly added in, turning on her bed to face Ruby and Yang.

"I'm fine, seriously." Their leader said, sitting down on her bed after having quickly climbed it, in a manner that made it clear the conversation was finished.

"It's not the only thing you seriously think is fine, is it?" Yang asked, this time with a legitimate hint of teasing leaking into her voice. Ruby had made it clear she _thought_ the conversation was over, but Big Sis cared to disagree.

"Yang…" Blake's quiet reprimand earned her the stares of both the busty blonde and her smaller half-sister.

"What? I'm just saying…" The casual shoulder shrug almost made it seem like that's all Yang was doing.

"Saying what, exactly?" Ruby openly glared at her older sister, the venom in her words shocking her entire team.

"Whoa, where's all the hostility coming from? And here I thought you were coming back from a long trek with the guy of your dreams." Yang mumbled aloud, watching Ruby from the corner of her eyes, studying her face, ready to gauge her reaction.

"A walk sounds lovely, Yang! I'm glad you brought it up. Let's go." Blake stated, dropping from her bunk and grabbing the blonde by her arm. Her gaze narrowed and stared unflinchingly at the hard stare being sent her way, courtesy of her partner.

She relented, pushing past Blake to exit the dorm, her temper quickly rising. Said faunus spared her leader a quick look before rushing out to follow after Yang.

Ruby remained seated on her bunk, scowl slowly dissipating as silence enveloped the room.

"Is it true, then?" Weiss, the only person besides Ruby left, asked quietly. The scowl returned full force.

"I don't want to talk about this, Weiss. Especially not with _you_ , I'm not in the mood for you to berate me or berate Jaune."

The Heiress was visibly shocked by her words, and Ruby stiffened a bit when she saw the genuine hurt in her own partner's eyes.

"I-I'm sorry! That was mean, and I had no reason!" The anger that had been dominating her mood since before she stepped into the room was apparently smothered by guilt, as Ruby was quick to climb down from her bunk and take Weiss into her arms.

"It's...it's alright. You're upset at someone else, and you're lashing out at whoever you can. I understand it, I really do." The white-haired girl calmly explained, returning the hug, which was as soft as her tone.

"I'm...I'm sorry. I did the same thing to Yang…"

"And you'll tell her you're sorry and she'll forgive you because you truly mean it. So don't worry too much about that. Now, I'm asking as your friend, not your teammate, or anything else, what's going on? Yang said something was happening between you and Jaune?"

"There's nothing happening there, Weiss! At least...not anymore, he's with Pyrrha now. Everybody knows that." The defeat in her voice was obvious, and had the pale girl hugging her even tighter.

"Oh, Ruby, you dolt… I'm not going to say you made a mistake picking Jaune, you like who you like. I will admit though, I'm worried that seeing them together would hurt you. And not in the sense that your team leading skills or any such thing will suffer, I mean you'll be hurt, sad, upset."

"It...it does, a little more than a little, honestly."

"And it will, for a while anyways. But you shouldn't give up on him."

' _I never did.'_

"What do you mean, Weiss?"

"For whatever reason, you like tall, blond, and scraggly," the Heiress giggled to herself at the glare she received for breaking her promise, "and he's with Pyrrha now. That means there are certain things you have to respect about their relationship. Now, I doubt I have to tell you what those things are, right?"

' _Oh, I know what the rules are. I may not be following them, but I don't need you to tell me what they are.'_

"Of course."

"Good. So, that being said, be there for, _Jaune,_ as a friend, and should Pyrrha, for whatever inconceivable reason, leave him, then you'll have your chance. I know you've learned your lesson and won't hesitate to prove to Jaune how you feel when you get the chance, right?"

' _I promise.'_

"I promise."

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Omake#1

The blond found himself rubbing the back of his head while the red head bite her lip. Neither of them moved or gazed at the same location for more than a brief moment and the elevator's ambience turned into silence as their labored breathing died down.

Eventually, they calmed their bodies, but they failed to calm their minds. Seconds went by and not a word was uttered while they continued their game of who could look everywhere but at each other.

It wasn't until the door began to close that they willed their bodies to move.

Ruby made to wedge herself in between and stop the door from closing, but found she had another obstacle to overcome first; Jaune's arm. She'd never move quite as fast in the rest of her life as she did in that one moment.

Her hands were quick to roam his body as their lips finally met in a spectacular crash. An overload of senses had the Reaper in bliss as only the sensation of his warm, soft lips against her own filled her world. She tugged at his golden locks as his own strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled their chests, as well as the rest of their bodies, together.

Ruby didn't even realize she had let go of Jaune for the briefest of moments in order to slam a fist into the top floor of Beacon Academy.

Heat flushed her face as her body reacted to Jaune's actions, and she could feel his body's reaction too.

She wanted to make it obvious what she thought about that and how far she wanted this to go, and reasoned that she'd go big, since Jaune was known to be rather dense.

Or maybe she just wanted an excuse to grind her body on his. The grunts coming from her _best friend_ suggested he didn't really care one way or the other.

The scythe-wielder let out a moan when she tried to pull away for air, just for a moment, only to be roughly pulled back into the kiss by a passionate Jaune.

He ravished her mouth in a way that she could only describe later on as hungry, needy, and _fucking sexy_ , since not many thoughts were currently buzzing through her head. Not a single one was left however, when she felt his tongue brush against her lips, begging for entrance.

So enraptured in the kiss Ruby was, that when the time came, and the motion of the elevator lifting their bodies up into the sky in its grueling duel against gravity ended, that she didn't hear the distinct _ding._

The only thing she did perceive, at first, was the distinct lack of warmth. Sure, the warmth had a name, it was Jaune, but her mind couldn't differentiate an Atlesian-Knight of the 130 models from a Atlesian Paladin-290 at the moment.

It wasn't until she reached for Jaune's hands, her first instinct was to feel his skin against hers once more, did the rest of her senses begin to make themselves known to her once more. She could feel the panicked breath of Jaune hitting her incredibly warm body, see him staring off at something past her shoulder.

She could _hear_ the soft footsteps slowly but surely making their way to the elevator, with the occasionally _click._

Ruby turned around to see none other than Professor Ozpin himself, stepping into the elevator. Then she felt the hands of the man she'd she been locking lips with, pushing her away from, as if to act as a shield; the traitorous bastard.

The Reaper clasped her hands behind her back nervously, giving the Headmaster the most innocent smile she could manage at the moment. Admittedly, it would've looked better, if she could have alleviated the prominent blush on her face, or the slight swelling of her lips, or calm her breathing.

"Evening _again_ , students. Are you having trouble with the elevator? I could've sworn I heard you two descend successfully."

"N-no, sir, everything is working fine."

Ruby turned to see that it had been Jaune who nervously squeaked out the response. He truly was courageous, to be able to play Ozpin's twisted game of Cat and Mouse. Because that's what the man was obviously doing, toying with them!

"Ah, I see. You've a fear of elevators, then? Judging by your state, I think it's fairly obvious. And it seems Mr. Arc suffers from the same affliction. Worry not, children, I'm not one to judge, I've my share of fears, and mistakes, after all. I'd escort you to the stairs, but… there aren't any. Professor Goodwitch wasn't around at the beginning, when we were renovating Beacon into a school, and I knocked out the stairs to make room for the giant gears...so many mistakes…"

Ruby and Jaune watched on in silence as the famed Huntsman stood in place, in silence, for a full minute, before taking a sip from a small cup of coffee and finally pushing a button. They both craned their necks to see he had chosen Basement Number Three.

They looked to one another, with baited breath, as he continued to stand there, facing the doors and seemingly content to spend the elevator ride down in silence.

Finally, they allowed themselves a sigh of relief as it seemed that merely observing the act didn't jinx them. Which they sucked back in when they arrived at their destination.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal a dark, windowless room, only illuminated by a single bulb that didn't reach the walls of the room, making it seem as if the room was a void.

Underneath the single bulb was a single table, two chairs, and a thermos at one end of the table, with an empty seat across it. Their view of the disturbing room was cut off as Professor Ozpin obscured it. He had exited the elevator, and turned to face them.

"I'm not a fool, children. Do not take my acceptance as ignorance. The only reason I'm not taking action against you - well, it's simple. I, too, know the passions of love." Ozpin explained slowly, his wise words swelling with obvious wisdom.

"R-really, Professor Ozpin? I always thought you and Glynda had a professional relationship." Jaune remarked, shocked at what he was hearing. He was flabbergasted when his question was met with hearty laughter from Ozpin.

"Oh, no. No, no, no. Glynda… just no. I'm seeing someone else. Have been for a _long_ time. She's been with me longer than even Professor Goodwitch herself, believe it or not. My true love, actually, is already awaiting me, as you can see. I'll leave you two be, good day." With those words, the ever regal Ozpin walked into the bare room, a loving smile on his face as he walked to the table.

"...was he talking about the Thermos?" Ruby asked in bewilderment, dumbstruck as Jaune mindlessly hit the button for their floor. That's why they were surprised when the elevator began to descend.

The elevator descended down one floor and stopped at _Fort Port_ , as Jaune and Ruby both observed. They were uncertain of what to say when the doors opened to reveal one Glynda Goodwitch.

The strict blonde coughed into her fist before marching in between both students, hitting the button that would send them to the Art Gallery. Jaune and Ruby's gaze both switched between Glynda and the _No Girl's_ sign on Fort Port. Their honed Huntsmen survival skills however managed to save their lives as they both came to the conclusion that it would be best not to ask.

No words were exchanged, even after Glynda exited at the Art Gallery. Ruby just stepped forward, and hit the button for the ground floor. They just sighed when the door opened prematurely at the second basement. Jaune only took a single glance at Professor Oobleck, who was lugging a large, black garbage bag that managed to twitch three times in the short second he had been looking in its direction, before he slammed the close doors button repeatedly.

They sighed in relief when the doors opened to reveal the ground floor.

They never saw one another again, as both had gone off on a search for a respectable academy.

Ruby had ended up making a living for herself as the best Huntress in Mistral since the era of Pyrrha Nikos, and had eventually worked her way through the tournaments until she shattered the record The Four Time Champion of Regional Mistral Tournament had painstakingly set. This of course, prompted a match for the centuries, which had both teams reunite for the first time in years. The loser didn't hold a grudge against the victor, and all of them spent the night celebrating, remembering the good times, and honoring the memory of one Jaune Arc, who had decided to try his luck at Shade Academy, and promptly died on his trek through the Vacuo Desert, all because he refused to take the 16 hour airship ride.

The End

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 **Prick: Spoilers, that's actually the ending to this story. Just kidding, Ruby actually went to Atlas with Weiss to live out her life as a lesbian. Jaune still died trying to make love to a cactus in the desert though.**

 **Fate: Over your dead body. So, we'd like to apologize by saying that the date actually was going to be in** _ **this**_ **chapter, but we got carried away and changed the whole thing because we both had different ideas that completely went well with each other. We were at 4,400 words before we even thought of touching on the date.**

 **Prick: I mean, I wrote my things, you added to my things, your thing was better than my thing, so I had to write more things to even it out since fuck you, and then...well, I ended up writing my very first omake by myself and I take things too far.**

 **Fate: I just changed the initial elevator scene to…** _ **entice**_ **.**

 **Prick: I think my elevator scene was slightly better.**


	26. The 2nd First Date or Dateception Part 2

**Chapter Twenty-Six:** _The Second First Date or Dateception_

 _Part Two_

 **Fate: Sono Chi No Sadame. "You thought you would be the first to kiss Jaune, but it was me, Ruby!" You get special shout out from OrganOfFlames and I if you get where those were ripped from. Anyways, welcome back to Pain in the Arc, the game show where our contestants try to hurt, or kill, Jaune in different ways. The winner shall receive the first kiss of the Dork Knight - warning, may contain necrophilia if things go well, I mean bad. Currently in first place is Ruby Rose with, well, let us just say excessive contemplation.** _ **'I wonder if they can tell I'm stalling..'**_

 **Prick: Unnamed elementary girl kissed Jaune first… anyways, straight to business, in lieu of the long update period!**

 **Fate: I can totally imagine a yandere Ruby and Pyrrha tracking that girl down just to find out it was like Yang or someone they knew. In any event, Prick 'almost died' due to his fever, and my neighborhood is flooded, yet we're still catering to your sick - I mean - cute... desire for angst and the occasional splash of fluff because we have some disturbed Stockholm's syndrome to you all. Because that is what this is, angst, and Prick would be lying to deny it.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Jason Lanter: Glad to see you back! Happy to see you like what you see!**

 **The Critic: You were a good ego-check, I forgot what this story looked like when I first started. I'm happy to hear you think the story is improving, and can tell Fate had just as much a hand in that as I did. As for the outlandishness, I admit, Fate actually just gave it some direction, we're still rolling that train in the same direction though, so, beware. But, on the topic of the last part of your review, I have to reiterate that this story is about an affair occurring as Jaune dates Pyrrha, so, angst is going to go hand in hand with the romance in this story. I don't plan on going in the direction of a novella, though there will certainly be some aspects that the two share.**

 **Nexus Bladeguard: Man, you rock! Thanks so much for so many reviews! Yes, many Lancaster, much moments. I'm happy you found the omake funny, I was nervous about that one. I admit, the thought of having everyone dying and Remnant falling to Salem's wrath sounds tempting. Fate, didn't everyone die at the end of Juliet and Romeo? We can do that too!**

 **Guest: Thanks. I hope you meant the chapter as a whole was cool.**

 **Astronomiae: Thanks a lot, I'll make sure to update fairly quickly. Quickly is subjective, Fate, stop it.**

 **AnonymouslyYours: Nice name, the first half, anyways. Thanks a lot! As much as I want to trade the story in for a set amount of currency, I can't claim total ownership of it, Fate owns like...a small percent of it. Small is subjective, Fate, 50 percent can mean a lot of things! Thanks for the compliments on the details and the omake, research for one of those was actually really embarrassing, whole back story I don't want to go into…**

 **RPGPersona: Well, if that's how you chose to interpret that scene, by all means… And yes, Rita may have had a hand in Ruby's emboldening. Is that a word? I'm surprised to see you're the first person to point out that the omake was an alternate version of what would've happened had the elevator kept going, yes. Jaune is just barely now realizing that he has feelings for Pyrrha** _ **and**_ **Ruby, and yes, you got a great grasp on what happened in RWBY's dorm.**

 **Momijifan Low-Ki: Hey! She kissed him, just as much as he kissed her.**

 **Mediaocrity4: Glad you liked it, just remember, credit where credit is due if you do decide to let it inspire you for your work!**

 **sdphantom10: So, you saw that, huh? I feel like nailing Ruby's gun-nut trait is usually a hit or miss for people, nice to see you think I managed it. And yeah, things are getting heated; tones shall shift.**

 **CaptinGrevious: I'm genuinely sorry for that. Fate and I won't allow it to happen again, thank you for the review and hopefully, your understanding.**

 **Fate: You mean that 'love' story between a twelve year old and a seventeen year old that was a three day relationship that resulted in four deaths? That's not fluff. Also, you were the one who messed up her name.**

 **Prick: Yes, yes, we all know the story, you're such an intellectual, fuck you, blah blah blah.**

 **Fate: Your delusions of fluff is what kept you afloat emotionally, isn't it? That, and tormenting I-69. Swear that sounds like a slave name...**

 **Prick: I'm obligated to state that the intern is indeed alive.**

 **Fate: 'Obligated'...**

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Jaune blinked his eyes open.

He would've equated it to waking up, if the imagery his brain was telling him what he was perceiving wasn't the cobbled pathways of the front courtyard of Beacon's courtyard.

Had he fallen asleep? Dozed off perhaps? Before his train of thought could get any further, his attention was grabbed by a flash or red.

His gaze honed in on a dashing trail of red, and it took him a moment, and for the blur to stop moving, to realize that it was Pyrrha he had been staring at.

The Huntress-in-training spun around to face him, flashing a warm smile that managed to make his heart flutter, even across the great distance between the two.

She beckoned to him, waving her arm highly in the air. It only took a second of thought for the blond to stand and begin to make his way over to her.

He had been casually walking towards her, content to enjoy a leisure stroll that matched the beautiful scene the day had been proving to be. His attention constantly wavered as he looked over at the leaves fluttering in the trees to the gentle breeze, and his beautiful partner.

That is, until, with what he assumed to be a giggle behind a fist, Pyrrha once more spun on her heel and began to take off at a fast pace. One that demanded the Arc begin steadily jogging should he with to catch up with her.

He didn't question it, his smile managing to grow a bit as the cool air sent wondrous sensations across his skin as he followed Pyrrha down the familiar path that would take them to the designated pick up and drop off point via airship.

The Arc smiled as he saw her stop in front of one such machine, turning around once more to bless him with that perfect face of hers.

His own smile faltered for a moment when he saw her step aboard. With a reluctance akin to a child receiving a shot, he made his way onto the metal monstrosity.

Jaune was quick to make his way to the seating area of the airship, wondering why there was such a lack of _people,_ before he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist.

A soft pair of lips made themselves apparent against his chin, and the blond got to feel Pyrrha sidestep _against_ and around his body, before promptly taking a seat.

Her arms had never stopped being wrapped around him, and so he followed her when she sat down. Adjusting him into his own seat, which he had awkwardly shuffled into, the redhead finally nuzzled her way onto his shoulder, managing a position that proved to be just as comfortable for him as it was for her.

The Arc simply draped an arm around her, finding the seat of the airship unusually comfortable, though maybe the warmth radiating from Pyrrha's body was mainly to blame. Regardless, he was rather comfy, and it wasn't long before his eyes began to feel heavy.

He felt her stir a bit, readjusting herself once again, moving her way up his body quite a bit more. Jaune took his hands off of Pyrrha, the brief moment already leaving him longing for contact once again. Once she seemed to be snugly pressed against him once more, he wrapped his arms around her once more, only to feel his hands touch as they wrapped all the way around…

Ruby.

Jaune had opened his eyes to see that it was now Ruby lying against him, cradled in his arms, staring up into his eyes with her own wide, silver, eyes as she opened her mouth to speak.

The dark figure seated across the two of them went unnoticed.

" _Jaune_ …"

* * *

"Jaune...Jaune...Jaune!"

Nora's fearless leader leapt awake with a mighty scream. Admittedly, it was a few octaves higher than most would think 'manly,' but that just made her leader all the more badass; refusing to adhere to society's standards and scream like a girly-girl.

"What is it?!" Jaune cried out in fear, shaking. Although, the ginger of team JNPR may have been contributing to that, as her arms were in fact gripping his shoulder, and themselves moving back and forth rapidly.

"It's morning, silly!" Nora replied simply, her large grin making it obvious that she felt her actions were easily justified with the brief explanation.

"Of course, of course." The Arc looked over to see that Pyrrha's bed was empty, and he deduced that she was currently occupying their bathroom, when he saw that his fellow male on the team was still slumbering away; the lucky bastard.

"Anyways, it's Sunday, and Renny doesn't like me waking him up before noon on Sundays, and Pyrrha's showering, so I thought I'd wake you up so you could come and have breakfast with me down at the cafeteria!"

"That, uh, uh...sure, why not?" Jaune was certain he could think of a few reasons of why not, had he been allowed a minute or two to wake himself up and get his brain running at full capacity.

"Great! Throw some clothes on and we'll get going!"

He just smiled and sighed, nodding his head in submission as the bubbly ginger squealed in excitement. Looking over at their shared bathroom, he began to contemplate as to how he would get access to the assortment of supplies he needed for his day to properly begin, like bubble-gum flavored toothpaste, and his light-up toothbrush…

Jaune climbed out of bed, stretching as he let out a yawn, and proceeded to walk towards the bathroom. His hand was about to turn the knob when Nora spoke up.

"Jaune! Pyrrha's still in there showering!"

He heard her words, and they did in fact register, for his brain took it as confirmation for his earlier assumption that it was his redheaded partner occupying the shower. Still, they didn't deter Jaune in the slightest.

"I know."

"So what are you doing?!" Her tone suggested there was something wrong with his answer, and his mind worked to think of a reason as to why. He couldn't think of anything, so he just decided to tell her his plans and see what she thought.

"I'm getting my things."

"I-I'll get your things, Jaune."

What was the big deal? Worse case scenario Jaune could think of, he'd see Pyrrha nude. The thought was rather entic-

" _Oh!_ Y-yeah! I'd really appreciate that! Thanks…"

Jaune and Nora awkwardly laughed it off as the two switched places, and Nora timidly knocked on the bathroom's door, asking for permission to quickly enter before doing so.

The Arc dropped the facade when Nora stepped out of sight and sighed. Honestly, what was the big deal? It's not like they hadn't all been together the day they went out to Vale to furnish their dorms, one of those items being a shower curtain. Plus, Jaune really doubted that he'd see anything he hadn't already in training, unless Pyrrha liked to take the curtain down every time she showered and put it back up when she finished.

" _Hell,_ she might just show me something more."

"What was that?"

Jaune's pulse raced as Ren had decided to make his return to the waking world known.

"Huh? Oh, nothing, just thinking about what I have to do today."

If Ren had anything to say on the matter, it was cut off as Nora emerged from the restroom, everything Jaune would need to dress up for the day.

"Renny! You're awake, this is great, you can come eat with us!"

Her boisterous demand disguised as a statement was met with rather convincing snores, and Jaune began to wonder if Ren had sent himself into a coma of some sorts in order to assure himself a few more hours of sleep.

Taking his things with a nod of appreciation from a distracted Nora and -who was attempting to wake up the - "faker!" He quickly dressed before he stepped out of the room, deciding he'd freshen up at the showers by the training arenas, and just meet up with Nora at breakfast.

* * *

Jaune sat down with a smile on his face. His tray was stacked high with fruits, toast generously slathered in butter, cereal, two pancakes he'd have to take care to protect from Nora, and a cup of pudding he personally brought from his stash at the dorm.

None of RWBY had arrived yet, and the rest of his team was missing as well. It did perplex him, there weren't many a thing that could get in between Nora and her pancakes, after all.

Still, he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. He had a moment of silence to himself, he hadn't seen a glance of Cardin or his team since Glenn outside of classes, and he had a date tonight!

 _A beat._

Jaune blinked… eyes darting over the the large crowd of students in the cafeteria. His breath had turned ragged, his heart threatening to burst from his chest. His pulse calmed, but only by a small amount, when no bullet decided to lodge itself in his body.

Okay, so maybe assuming his bad luck would accumulate into an assassination attempt on his life was a bit of an overreaction on his part, but still. There was no way life would allow him such a great streak of luck without pulling it all out from beneath his feet.

The mere thought of everything that could possibly go wrong, admittedly most were ridiculous and highly unlikely, though that did little to quell his panicking mind. Jaune was staring at his clammy hands, trying to stop his spoon from shaking so violently when he felt an arm wrap around his neck. The sensation of his windpipe being crushed, the dizziness that came as result of a lack of air, and the world fading away, all hit him with full force at the same time, and his body reacted against it, naturally.

If he had gone and tried to stab any other person in the arm with a spoon who truly had the intent of ending his life - that Yang Xiao Long certainly didn't possess - he wouldn't of taken a deep breath of air ever again, which is why he felt idiotic for the second time in the span of ten seconds when he did.

"Whoah, what's up with you, Vomit Boy?"

"I'm just, uh-"

He trailed off when he felt a second person's body press up against his, though this time thins arms snuggly hugged him. Where he had to actively ignore the feeling of Yang's mounds pressed into his back, and subconsciously enjoy them, he had to actively notice the feeling of Ruby's own, smaller chest pressed up against him, and subconsciously remind himself he shouldn't enjoy them so much.

"Yang, what did we say about mean nicknames?" Ruby warned, her arms still wrapped firmly around Jaune, despite the contact having lasted quite a few more seconds than Yang's brief run. She finally let go, only to sit herself down on Jaune's right side, her proximity suggesting there wasn't ample room for her to scoot over.

"I know, I know. But seriously, you looked spooked, what's wrong?" Yang asked after she had finished walking to the other side of table, where she sat across the two.

"I uh...well, honestly?..." The blond trailed, at a loss as to how to describe his plight to his friends.

"If I had anything to say on the matter, I'd assume it was girl problems." Blake casually stated as she sat down at the table besides Yang, her own plate of food consisting of a large bowl of oatmeal, a large glass of juice, and a single orange.

Jaune found himself with his mouth gaping, eyes wide as he stared at the bow-clad girl of RWBY, who almost _never_ talked to him, totally butt into the conversation and pretend she just didn't. He wasn't flustered because she was dead on though, not at all.

"Hey now!" He tried to begin, but was cut off by another arrival.

"If I were inclined to do so, I'd no doubt agree with Blake on the matter. I'd even go on as far to hazard a guess and say it involves Pyrrha." Weiss added, sitting down next to Ruby, who had finally let go of Jaune only to throw herself down right besides him.

"That's not fair!" Jaune cried out indignation, pointing a finger to the sky, seeing as how he had far too many scoundrels to single out.

"Well, he has a point. So, let's give him the benefit of a doubt. What's on your mind?" Yang asked, her gaze bouncing from person to person to scope out anyone who disagreed. It settled on Jaune when no one did, and she shot him a smile, with a friendly wink as she did so.

"Well, I can tell you that it's certainly not the date with Pyrrha." Jaune huffed, closing his eyes and crossing his arms in an act of displeasure. "She told me she'd handle everything."

Had his eyes been open, he would've seen the giggles most of the girls were trying to suppress, as well as a few eyes twitching.

"You mean to tell me, that Pyrrha, _the_ Pyrrha Nikos, is planning your date?" Weiss asked slowly, her shoulders heaving in repressed anger.

"Well, yeah. I mean, she was the one to ask me out, after all."

If he had decided to open his eyes at that moment, he would've seen _and_ heard the snickers, guffaws, and palm smacking instead of just the latter that came into existence because of his utterance.

"Oh, Jaune, you are a riot!" Yang blurted out, slapping the table as she let out another hearty laugh. It seemed that everyone had reacted to his words, ranging from mild bemusement to outright anger.

"Hah...I'm not joking." The blond timidly admitted, finally looking at everyone, though only from the corner of his eyes.

Blake had a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips even as her eyes continued to slowly roam along a page in yet another new book, showing that she was more invested in the conversation then she let on.

Ruby had a small smile, though she didn't attempt to hide it, quietly giggling at him. But, their proximity allowed him to hear every single one, and Jaune shot her a mock glare before he turned to Weiss, who seemed to be in the middle of some patience ritual, unless she suddenly took to long breathes and inhaling through her nose, only to exhale through her mouth.

"You don't have much experience with dates, do you, Jaune?" Blake asked, the entire group turning to look at her before they redirected their gaze to the recipient, awaiting his answer.

"I learned a lot about them from my older sisters." He explained, a fair amount of sass in his words.

"You've _surely_ been on at least _one_ date in your life, Arc, no doubt. We're just trying to get a feel for what we're working with here." Weiss remarked.

"Yes, for all of your information...s. Informationeses. Info, whatever! Point is, I have been on a date."

Silence enveloped the table as everyone waited for him to elaborate, with progress only being made when Ruby gently prodded Jaune to go on with a soft-ish elbow to the side.

"It was a beautiful Autumn day. There was a gentle breeze, and the teacher had just let the class go an entire five minutes early for recess. We shared dinosaur-shaped nuggets and a juice carton, which _does_ count as a kiss, indirect or not!"

The entirety of team RWBY shared a look between themselves before they all simultaneously rose from their seats, promptly discarded what remained of their food, and made for the cafeteria's exit, Yang lagging behind to grab the Knight by his hoodie and tugging him along.

The rest of RWBY were at the door when they encountered his team.

"Hello there… where are you taking Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, her words laced with worry, but her eyes shining with mirth.

"Your cruelness has no bounds, Pyrrha! I thought a Champion of the people would have more compassion." Weiss remarked loudly, her voice echoing loudly in the now silent cafeteria.

"Yeah! Have you no shame?" Ruby added, jumping in to help Weiss with the unexpected, but not unappreciated, theatrics.

"I-I'm...sorry?" The Amazonian slowly but surely allowed her mantra to slip out, watching as a flailing Jaune was pulled away, his blonde captor waving goodbye and giving her a wink as she did so.

"You better be." Blake added, nose still stuck in her book as she followed after her team; it seemed even the bookworm of the team had decided to partake in the shenanigans.

"What's going on?" Ren asked, walking up to Pyrrha with Nora right on his heels.

"I haven't the slightest clue."

* * *

"Alright, the meeting may begin. Secretary Belladona, please make sure to jot down the time we begun instead of doodling fish... _again_." Lord High Steward Rose remarked regally.

Whether she chose to ignore the eye roll 'Secretary Belladona' sent her way or simply missed it would remain a mystery as the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Schnee spoke.

"I make a motion to skip the old news and jump to the issue involving one bumbling Jaune Arc." The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal said regally, as she eyed the bunk bed that swung precariously above her as Lord High Steward Rose decided to ignore their previous agreement to ban any swinging of knees, bees or otherwise, while she resided in her own bed.

"I second the motion, blah blah blah, your excellency, can we just move on already?" Yang pleaded, laying down in her own bed.

"The Council refuses to acknowledge you until you remove those infernal earbuds and that Scroll from your grasp and take your position on this Committee seriously!" Ruby cried out in anger, pointing her finger as furiously and making the most intimidating of figures as her 15 year old body would allow.

"Do I get a say in any of this?" Jaune tried to interject.

"No!" The four girls in the room simultaneously yelled, with a stray bark thrown into the fray.

"What're we even doing here anyways?" Jaune asked, head slumped in defeat as he accepted his fate. There were worse things than being trapped in a room with four beautiful women...like being trapped in a room with Nora going through the Syrup Shakes.

"We're here to teach you how to get laid Vomit B-" Yang began to say, chesire smile on her face up until the moment a pillow slammed into her face. Weiss dusted off her combat skirt before coughing into her fist.

"Jaune, we'll be asking the questions here, and you will answer them. If you do not meet our approval, then," Weiss motioned towards Ruby, who had slit her own throat with her index finger, adding in loud and exaggerated gargles to help sell it.

"Y-you'll kill me?!" The blond boy cried out in horror.

"No, you _dolt_ , your relationship will die!" Ruby exclaimed, looking over to Weiss when she finished, beaming as she received an approving nod from the white-haired girl.

Yang didn't catch whatever Jaune had replied as her attention focused onto her Scroll. Her favorite song had just come on, and an idea had popped into her head. Nimble fingers danced across her Scroll as she quickly acted out her plans.

\- _'Hey, Kitty Kat.'_

 _\- 'Yang, leave me alone.'_

\- _'Don't tell me you're taking this whole Council thing seriously!'_

 _\- 'The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal has no mercy.'_

Yang couldn't hold back the snort when she read the message from Blake, looking over to see golden eyes filled with mirth meet her for a moment before they returned to their own Scroll and Yang's promptly vibrated.

\- _'You'll get me in trouble, and the price for any transgressions are severe in these trying times. Were the Lord Keeper to feel inclined, she'd take away something I couldn't go without.'_

As much as Yang wanted to point out how much that sounded like an innuendo, she knew what the price truly was, and knew Blake wouldn't be too keen on receiving jokes on that.

\- _'No tuna?'_

 _\- 'No tuna.'_

\- _'You know she has no authority to actually go through with her threats, right?"_

 _\- 'Yang, what do you want? I know you're not bothering me for no reason during a meeting.'_

\- _'Perceptive as ever, oh dearest Partner. I don't know, I guess I just wanted to speak my mind.'_

 _\- 'You always do that, what makes this time different?'_

\- _'It's mostly about Ruby. I'm actually pretty proud of her. I wasn't sure how she was going to react about P-money bagging a date with Jaune.'_

 _\- 'What did you expect?'_

\- _'I don't know. Tears, denial, a lot of hugs and some cookies. Certainly not for her to help him on his date.'_

 _\- 'I can see why you'd think that.'_

\- _'I can't help but wonder what changed. Maybe Ruby got over her puppy crush and just ended up happy with Vomit Boy being happy?'_

 _\- 'Maybe, I really wouldn't know.'_

The buxom blonde smirked to herself, eyes glancing to the black haired beauty that was her partner.

\- _'Is that so? I would've assumed you'd have intimate knowledge on relationships and such, considering all those naughty books you own ;) .'_

Yang had to force herself not to grin ear from ear when she saw Blake nearly snap her neck with the speed she turned her head to glare at her. And while the Brawler didn't miss the burning in the Faunus' cheeks, she did miss the glance that her partner shot at the spot beneath Ruby's bed that she knew was the general vicinity where her leader had stashed the coveted book she let her borrow.

\- _'Weren't we talking about Ruby?'_

 _\- 'Nice segue, very subtle. But fine, in all seriousness, I just wanted to ask you what you thought of all this.'_

Yang looked over to Blake, surprised to see that the Faunus was typing fervently away at her Scroll, but confusion quickly turned to amusement when the Lord High Steward Rose turned to directly face her, anger boiling in her wide, silver eyes.

"So, once again, let's review. The waiter has just left the light appetizer you ordered for Pyrrha based off of what you knew her diet would consist of as she trained to become a strong Warrior working to win her first championship. What do you do?" Weiss slowly explained, enunciating every other word with a tone that was befitting of a conversation with a child.

"I...I… I offer her the first bite and or piece of the appetizer." The blond slowly ground out, skin clammy as he took what the room's occupants, or most of them, had described as quite possibly the most important lesson he'd ever learn at Beacon. Yang's motion to establish her lessons on cunilingus was shot down promptly.

"Yes!" Lord High Steward Rose cried out in joy, jumping out of her perch to hug their prodigy student, in a most regal fashion. While even the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Schnee couldn't help but allow a smile to adorn her face at the signs of progress, she knew better than to blindly assume the best-case scenario was the only one that could play out, just because it was the only pleasant one. With a small sigh, her eyes caught Secretary Belladona, once again slacking off from her duties and texting away at her Scroll.

Though the records of the Final Meeting were sadly lost to history, word of mouth allowed the legend to persist; they say that on that day, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Schnee's smile grew three times its size that day.

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 **Fate: Cunilingus...really trying to earn that Rated M, huh…?**

 **Prick: Shut up, it's an important broke thing to learn at a young age. Back to business, though, we broke two hundred reviews! Cheese, FOR EVERYONE! In honor of the quickly approaching one year anniversary of Lunar Rose and 100K words, we hope to release the next chapter on September 11th, alongside with a steamy new story I wrote involving our favorite pairing, Lancaster! For all of you readers out there looking for something steamier than what Lunar Rose has to offer you, perhaps more akin to** _ **OrganofFlames**_ **work, make sure to give it a look!**

 **Fate:Yes, be sure to check out his drabbles and oneshots especially since those are like the younger child to him. Jokes aside, Organ is incredibly talented at smut and other things such as capturing emotions. Oh, before we go, TheLoneliestofAll, who is a talented writer, made a deal with me and since Prick and I enjoy torturing people and getting the readers involved, so I decided why not do both at once. Simply review or PM what you'd like to see me make Lonely write, there were no specifications on what was off limits, so go all out and I'll pick which I like the most.**


	27. The 2nd First Date or Dateception Part 3

**Chapter Twenty-Seven:** _The Second First Date or Dateception_

 _Part Three_

 **Fate: Almost nine months ago, I decided to talk to this guy about a story I had conveniently caught up with just in time to grab the Beta job. In those nine months, that guy had went from associate to friend, friend to bud, and bud to 'oh, my god, how do I stand this guy!?' But another thing he became, was a best friend - a brother. Regardless of all this, though, he still stayed one thing. And that thing… is a Prick.**

 **Prick: The capitalization makes it a term of affection, no doubt.**

 **Fate: Unfortunately. Also, I finally got Prick to confess to his sins against I69!**

 **I69: Sorry, mate, but I'm not dead, sorry. Maple syrup and beavers, aye!**

 **Fate: This man is a fraud, everyone knows it's all about Bacon, Hockey, and Maple Syrup. I call upon the All-Mother to banish your shadow form and reveal yourself for all to see!**

 **Reviews:**

 **Nexus Bladeguard: Short? That was one of our longer chapters in a bit… Though that girl from elementary totally prepared him for the date, in my humble opinion. I'm happy to see that you realized it was a dream sequence. Little Prick here thought it might confuse the readers, what an asshole, right? I'm thankful for the continued support, and rest assured, we'll give you your omake. We were just strapped for time, this time around.**

 **Madam Iris Heart: I'll make sure to pass on the message. Thanks for yet another review!**

 **Mediaocrity4: Eyyy, who was right? That's right, you were dead on buddy, just read the chapter and see for yourself! Many gracias for the reviews, my Little Prick has never been less bitchy.**

 **Momiji Low-Ki: Thanks again for the killer review streak, man, means a lot. And I wouldn't say Jaune lost, since he walked away with some more knowledge and the support of his friends. Well, most of them, anyways.**

 **Guest: Thanks for the love, truly! You should make an account, just so I could thank you in a pm if anything. The story is actually a love triangle, however.**

 **RPGPersona: Your interpretation of that scene was truly hilarious. Seriously, I still giggle at it whenever I read it, thanks so much for the consistent reviews buddy! And Jaune already knows the code to Fort Port. Literally, just bring beer and or bitches! And yes, Jaune is acting differently, wouldn't you say? Indeed… And, by the way, yes, the girls were joking with Pyrrha, being dramatic so as to avoid having to explain their actions.**

 **OrganofFlames: Thanks for the reviews, buddy, only took weeks for you to catch up… I'm not crying, Little Prick, fuck you. If there's one thing I do pride myself in, it's my skill with comedy. If people laugh, at me or not, it means they're my friends. Right?**

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Jaune licked his lips, though it didn't seem to help the dryness in his mouth, and the mirth in the lilac eyes that were far too close for comfort weren't helping in the slightest.

"Watch it, Vomit Boy, assuming you survived me," her honeyed words failing to hide their razor sharpness, "I don't think Pyrrha would appreciate you smooching with any other girls."

"O-of course! Never!" The blonde stuttered out, still uncomfortable with the lilac eyes that were now staring intensely into his; were he more perceptive, he would've seen the analytical nature of her gaze.

With one final lick of her hand and one final adjustment to his hair, Yang stepped back, satisfied with one of her current tasks, at least.

"How do I look?" Jaune asked the entirety of team RWBY, turning around to face them all.

"Excellent."

"You look fine."

"Really snazzy!"

Most of them replied, with varying levels of excitement. Jaune turned to look at the last occupant of the room who had yet to state her opinion.

Ruby squirmed from the top of her bunk bed when everyone else followed suit.

"I think you look really good, Jaune; Pyrrha is going to love it." The Reaper croaked out, her voice cracking a tiny bit despite her best efforts.

"Thanks. To all of you, I mean." The Arc quickly blurted out, finally removing his gaze from Ruby's to make contact with everyone. Despite himself, his eyes darted back to hers moments after.

"Just make sure that all of our efforts aren't in vain...I'm sure you would have done fine, we just helped you make it a little better, Jaune." Weiss said, surprising the room's occupants.

"I agree with the Ice Queen, you'll do great, Lady Killer." Yang announced loudly and proudly, as if she were the main contributor to his lessons.

"Wish me luck then." Jaune awkwardly chuckled, smiling at everyone, with his gaze lingering on Ruby long enough for everyone to realize it, including himself, before he stumbled over his own two feet out the door.

"...Anyways, that was real nice of you, Weiss-Cream." The feline Faunus of Team RWBY stated in a subtle-ish segue.

"Yes, well, while I normally wouldn't condone lying to someone just to spare them of the harsh truth, there are exceptions to every rule, it seems."

"That's not very nice, Weiss!" Ruby remarked sternly, a small frown etched onto her face.

"What? Yang thought it was nice! Besides, when karma is considered, I'm pretty sure I'm topped off for quite a while."

"What do you mean?" Blake inquired, finally having been allowed to return to her bed.

"I wasn't about to let the blond goofball ruin his date after all the work Pyrrha put into finally getting one with the dense buffoon. So, I got us some insurance." The Schnee informed them all, her voice oozing with pride, though the large smile she was wearing would've given it away too.

* * *

Jaune reached the door of his dorm rather soon; it was right outside RWBY's dorm after all, and all the awkward silences it seemed to contain. He let out a sigh as his thoughts shifted once more to Ruby, who seemed to be at the forefront of his thoughts just as much as Pyrrha, which was to say, half of the time.

' _What we did in the elevator...she knows that friends don't just...do_ _ **that!**_ _Right? And why did it just feel so...right? It's… it_ _ **is**_ _wrong. So what is all this helping_ _ **bullshit**_ _with my date?!'_

Jaune gasped in pain, hands racing to rub his temples as pain flared in his head, every beat of his heart pumping blood into his head, creating an excruciating throbbing.

And just like that, the pain was gone as fast as it had come. The Arc blinked as the lack of pain processed. Slowly lowering his hands, he stepped forward and knocked on the door of his dorm room after a few moments of hesitation.

"Come in!" He heard Pyrrha shout from inside.

* * *

Pyrrha's heart lodged itself in her throat when she heard their door close behind him.

"I'm still getting ready in the bathroom, sorry!" The redhead mentally cringed when the apology slipped out, as they _always_ do. Normally, she didn't have much of a problem with her less than offensive tick, but she worried proximity would have made hearing any utterance of the word insufferable.

Catching her reflection in the mirror, Pyrrha let out a sigh, reminding herself that part of the reason she was so infatuated with the blond was because of his accepting nature; Nikos often found she was usually her own harshest critic.

No matter how much she reminded herself of the fact, it never seemed to stick for very long, as her eyes began to roam her body. The dress was the same one from the dance, and although the Amazonian could've easily afforded to buy any other dress right off the window of a store should one catch her fancy, she was nearly certain Jaune wasn't in the same financial situation, what with the lack of contact with his family and all, and would most likely be wearing the tuxedo he had worn at the start of the dance.

She had to stifle a giggle at the thought of Jaune in his second outfit; it might've been disturbing, how well he wore his dress. With that thought, Pyrrha exhaled yet another breathe, choosing to take a more positive train of thought, one she felt the Arc outside would adopt.

Her eyes skimmed over her natural curves, and as modest at the Warrior had been raised, she still managed to humbly admit that her training regiment had certainly been kind to her figure. She eyed her circlet, uncertain of whether or not to bring it along for the date. As her fingers danced along the smooth metal, something else caught her attention.

The familiar green of her eyeliner bottle sat in its own little corner on the counter, her meager amount of cosmetics having proven sufficiently small so as to not become a nuisance. Pyrrha's eyes seemed to shine as she mulled over the words of encouragement her friend, Nora, had given her over pancakes that morning, but a blush quickly consumed the girl's face as she remembered the _other_ advice her female friend had given her.

* * *

Jaune grumbled to himself as he lay on his bed, careful to lay his so just so as to not ruin his hair; a larger than usual amount of care had gone into it, after all. Not only did he have to deal with making sure he didn't ruin his first date, ever, along with figuring out the entire ordeal that was happening with Ruby, because there was no denying that _something_ was certainly going on there, but now he had to put up with sporadic migraines as well.

His head swiveled to the bathroom door when he heard it swing open, and he couldn't stop himself from letting his jaw hang open.

Pyrrha had emerged in the same stunning dress she had worn to the dance, and it was just as dazzling the second time around. Her hair hung in a ponytail, this time held together by 'invisible girl devices' that Jaune couldn't begin to fathom, instead of the iconic circlet. The only other difference was the yellow eye shadow with specks of red near the edges she was wearing instead of the usual green.

"What do you think?" The redhead asked with a smile, spinning in place to give him a better view for effect. She smiled with a bit of a blush when a bit more leg than usual was revealed, and Jaune's reaction made it more than obvious he noticed.

"I like it. I like it a lot!" Jaune admitted, brazenly standing up and walking right up to Pyrrha, pulling her against his body and her lips against his. The gasp of surprise she let out slowly died into a quiet moan that was so inaudible, Jaune was only made aware of it through the vibrations he felt.

"Oh...my...Oum!" Nora squealed, clutching her waffle pillow to her chest tightly. This was remedied right away by the loud _clicks_ of her Scroll's camera snapping away.

"Nora! We promised not to interrupt; seen, not heard, remember?" Ren chastised her, holding up his Scroll and thumbing the capture button, nodding at the device as it silently took the picture.

"Really guys, really?" Jaune whined, turning to face the duo.

"They're just so _cute!_ " The ginger-haired warrior cried out.

"Yes, yes, they are. When exactly are you guys planning on leaving then?" Ren asked, a small smile adorning his own face.

"We should be heading out in around five minutes. We'll catch a Bullhead out to Vale and then find some way to the restaurant from there."

"I take it it's a high brow kind of place considering the attire?" Ren asked, though it felt more as if he were pointing it out.

"Yes. Jaune came in around noon, and surprised me with the news. Apparently, he managed to get us a reservation on such short notice, it was a pleasant surprise though." Pyrrha felt the need to state, smiling at her blond date, who actually seemed to blush a bit before he ducked his head.

"I just thought...you know, I'm so lucky...I should be the one to set up the first date and all…" He shyly admitted, heat rushing to his face, partly at her gaze, and partly at the lies he was sputtering.

"You guys should get going now, you don't want to be late!" Nora suddenly cried out, her entire person seemingly springing up with renewed vigor.

"We still have a few minutes-" The Arc tried to interject, but was promptly cut off when the war-hammer toting girl quickly walked over to the desk, shuffled around a drawer for a few moments, before removing what looked like a Civilian Bullhead's airsickness bag, and handed it to him.

Faster than he or his lovely date could perceive, they had been forcefully ejected from the room. Jaune could only blink as he stood outside his hall, coughing into his fist in an attempt to break the awkward silence. He looked over to meet eyes with Pyrrha, who had a complicated smile on her face; she managed to reflect the confusion and mirth the she was drawing upon from the situation.

"Let's be on our way then?" Jaune asked, a small smile slipping onto his face as he decided to write it off as another one of Nora's many shenanigans.

"Let's." Pyrrha remarked, her heart fluttering as the Arc extended his arm for her to promptly hook her own around. "Do you know why she had such a large grin as she pushed us out of the room?" The redhead asked, unable to stop herself from asking the question aloud.

"I'm trying to figure out why… well, did it look like Ren was… _blushing?_ "

* * *

Jaune smiled as they stepped off the Bullhead. He pondered if holding any girl's hand would've helped him with his air sickness, then remembered he'd been hard-pressed to find a girl to hold his hand, and ran his thumb over Pyrrha's palm just to assure himself he wasn't dreaming. His conclusion was reinforced when a soft pair of lips briefly met his.

"What was that for?" The blond asked, mentally reminding himself to link the two events for further research, if the result was always going to end up with a kiss from the Amazonian.

"Let me answer your question with one of my own." Pyrrha responded, scooting back a step so as to leave Jaune's personal space, yet still be close enough to continue holding his hand, which he certainly noticed, as he interlocked their fingers. He nodded his agreement.

"Do you know the meanings of the colors?"

"Uh… red dust means fire?"

She giggled into her fist.

"Well, yes, that's true, but I was referring to the colors of a rose when you give it to a person." The Champion explained.

"Oh. Then, I guess my answer is no." Jaune admitted, face tingling in slight embarrassment.

"Well, most mean quite a few things. Red is usually associated with love, and yellow friendship." She smiled when she realized he was staring at her eyeliner.

" _That's_ why you're not wearing the green. I mean, I like it a lot, not to say I don't like the green, though!"

"Yes, well, these shades are a little stronger than usual because I put on two layers of it. You see...yellow with a red tip…" Pyrrha found herself struggling to form the words, or at least, she was, until suddenly the strikingly blue eyes of the Arc were suddenly in the entirety of her vision. He had moved forward, until their legs were nearly pressed up against one another like the tips of their noses currently were.

"What does yellow with a red tip mean, Pyrrha?" He asked, the words dancing on her lips.

"It...it means to fall in love. I put on two layers...since I fell in love with you twice. Slowly, over the months, the first time, and then again, when you came back from Glenn."

Jaune didn't say anything, at least, not verbally. But, Pyrrha felt he still got the message through, just with his lips. After a few moments, the kiss began began to lose its chastity and grow heated, and high-heeled feet may or may not have been raised off the floor when Jaune pulled back from the kiss unexpectedly.

"Our uh...ride is here." Jaune panted, turning his head towards the man Chauffeur dressed in black besides a limousine, holding up a card with the word "Arc."

"Jaune! A limousine! You didn't need to get something so extravagant!" The Amazonian chastised him, surprised when he seemed to genuinely flinch.

"You're not going to like where it takes us then…" He muttered aloud, chuckling afterwards as he took Pyrrha's hand into his own once more and pulling her towards the limousine. He nodded his confirmation to the limo driver when he asked if they were the only party, and stepped into the limousine after Pyrrha stepped in, but not before discreetly handing the Chauffeur a stack of lien and asking for some privacy from the get go.

* * *

"Where are we going, then?" The redheaded beauty asked, smoothing out her dress as she got comfy, which wasn't very hard; Jaune had truly gone all out and gotten a fairly nice limousine, and Pyrrha Nikos knew her limousines.

"I'd like it to be a surprise." Jaune commented, smile growing a tad bit as the glass separating them from the driver slowly but surely slid it's way up, before he leaned forward and pecked her on the lips once more.

"Mh, alright then." She honestly would've blushed, but she was far too busy enjoying the sensation.

"Honestly, I felt that…" Jaune trailed, sliding up next to her on the seat, so their shoulders were pressed up against one another. A single hand trailed up her shoulder, and she could do little to suppress the goosebumps that appeared on her arm as the electric shock his touch always gave her ran across her system.

"We could find something else to do with our time?" Nikos finished for him, leaning forward so her cheek would rub against his, continuing until she was nuzzling his neck.

"You read my mind." He whispered into her ear. "So, why don't we start?" He didn't wait for her response, instead, he grabbed her and quickly flipped her over until she was planted firmly on his lap.

"Jaune!" She cried out, giggling.

"Rolls off the tongue, I know, I know." Jaune stared into her eyes, content at the moment to just bask in her presence.

"What's gotten into you, lately?"

Well, if he was expecting anything for Pyrrha to say at the moment, it certainly wasn't that.

"I'm sorry?"

"You've been… better." She elaborated helpfully.

"I… don't follow." He admitted slowly, his mind struggling to comprehend the shifts in mood so quickly.

"Ever since the training session - no, ever since Mt. Glenn. You've… you've just acted differently. More confident, more assertive, more… well…" She stuttered, gesturing to herself, although it was more like her current position, and this time, she did blush.

"... I can't say. I'm not entirely sure myself." It was the truth, although, he _did_ have an inkling of what he thought could be the source…

"-ane."

"Hm? I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I was saying, whatever it is, I'm just glad that I can be with you for it." Pyrrha told him, tears welling up in her eyes before she cupped his face, giving him a long kiss.

"I'm glad, too. Now, why don't you let me ask you a question."

"Oh, you want to... _talk_?" Pyrrha slowly asked, turning her head from Jaune in an effort to cover a now prominent blush.

"That was always the plan." He admitted with a shit-eating grin.

"Jaune Arc! You shouldn't tease me like that!" She cried out, moving to climb off of his lap.

"We'll compromise, you can stay right there while I ask you the questions."

"Hm...I feel like you're getting a lot more out of the deal then I am."

"Alright." Jaune relented, shifting his hips so as to knock her loose, a giggling mess of red hair that toppled into his arms.

"So, what did you want to ask me, anyways?"

"Honestly? It was the one thing I spent the most time thinking about."

"Well, from what I made of it, you threw our date together sometime after breakfast, so that doesn't say much." She teased.

"Hush. I want to get to know you a little better. I mean, I know the polite, kind, caring, _sensual,_ bombshell that is my partner, but I don't know too much about your past. What led up to the person I know today."

It was Pyrrha's turn to react at the unexpected line of questioning.

"I see. Well, I can't say it's very interesting. And, I don't talk about myself very often, truth be told. But, go ahead. I'm an open book."

"Do you have any siblings?" It was a question Jaune was fairly certain he knew the answer to, since she never brought up any mention of her own when he talked about his.

"No. Only child my whole life." If it bothered her, she made a good show of hiding it.

"Lefty or righty?" He asked jovially, laughing when she rolled her eyes; she knew he knew that she had taught him how to use both his hands.

"Alright. What was your favorite thing to do as a child. And no, sparring doesn't count."

She seemed to deflate for a moment before perking right back up.

"I liked to draw, although, and never tell anyone of this, I was terrible."

"Oh? Is that so? I shall spread this knowledge throughout my intricate web of contacts, and the downfall of Pyrrha Nikos' reign at the Mistral Tournament shall begin."

"I fear for the day victory depends on my ability to draw a pretty sunset."

"Don't we all?"

"Is that it, then? Didn't seem to get as deep as I thought it would." Pyrrha asked when a comfortable silence developed.

"To be completely honest, your beauty managed to derail me. I did have one question, but I don't know how to ask it."

Pyrrha smirked at him, eyes dancing with mirth as she leaned forward until they were in a position very much like the one they had struck when she had admitted how deep her feelings ran for him.

"Wow. This is surprisingly distracting. How did you ever manage?"

She give him a light kiss in some twisted form of chastisement.

"I guess...I just wanted to ask, what did you see in me?"

* * *

"This is the place." Jaune muttered with an awkward smile as he helped Pyrrha out of the limo. He was still anxious about all this, he was nervous when he was back at Beacon, and he was nervous right now. But, despite his own fears, he knew he had to do this for her, he _wanted_ to do this for her.

"Oh? I wasn't aware you'd pick here of all places." Pyrrha lied with a smile.

"Well, I wanted to take you somewhere not only nice but somewhere special for us to go without you worrying that your fans would recognize you."

"Hm, well, this would be the place for that. It's very common for Huntsmen and Huntresses to come here, after all. I think even Professor Port has a booth here." Pyrrha was impressed by Jaune's choice, this wasn't just a classy, overpriced place. It was _the_ classy and overpriced place, but the price wasn't just lien. It was lien and skill and glory.

Truly, she was impressed he thought her special enough to take her here, but she was worried he might've bitten off far more than he could handle by coming here of all places. This place enjoyed to serve Huntsmen and Huntresses, but only a few students.

Because of their partnership with Beacon, they received access to student scores so they could… _weed out_ undesirables. While they used this as a sort of ploy to encourage students to apply themselves so they could make a simple reservation, Pyrrha _knew_ that it was just a tactic that promoters and sponsors liked to employ. The Champion had experience with these sort of things. Her date, however, did not.

And that's why she was thankful Weiss texted her his plan.

* * *

"Tables for-" Jaune's words stopped when the host at the front desk turned his dark gaze towards him. The host just had this odd expression on his face as he looked at Jaune and Pyrrha. The tall, dark-skinned host had a poker face that told Jaune he was unimpressed or uninterested in just about everything before him. He didn't even so much as show awe at the sight of Pyrrha, who Jaune could say was absolutely divine in her red dress.

"Yes?" The dark-skinned man asked with a forced, yet somehow enthusiastic tone.

"Um, yeah, I called earlier about reservations." Jaune managed to say as he held out his Scroll as if he were going to show the call log. The Knight wasn't surprised to see the host blink with as much interest as the last hundred. After a few moments of silence, Jaune opted to speak again. "It was at about-"

"Name?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Jaune, he needs the name of the reservation."

"Oh, right." Jaune chuckled awkwardly as scratched the side of his face before clearing his throat. "It's Jaune Arc."

The host raised an eyebrow for a moment before turning his attention towards the computer at the desk. Jaune and Pyrrha took that opportunity to scan over his name tag. It read, 'Ashur King', and he was apparently related to the founder or something of that judging from the picture just behind the desk Pyrrha's keen eyes noted. That and he had the same last name as the founder. She thought it peculiar, since she wasn't aware of the Golden Shield having family, but said nothing.

"So, Jaune, are you enjoying our date so far?" Pyrrha asked, breaking the silence with a smile. She'd tried to keep herself relaxed, to treat their date with a calm mind - just like any fight. But she was truly nervous, this was their first date after all.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, though we haven't done much just yet, ha.." Jaune smiled as he rubbed the back of his head. He could tell she was feeling nervous, she was just far better at hiding it. He could hear her breathing, even and controlled, a sign of her trying to ease her nerves. The Arc felt that she was doing that for him, to show him she was ever supportive of his choices in the date. It was one of the things that made her great. Her compassion and willingness to put herself aside to try and make things easier on him and others.

"That's true, but I just want you to know I'm enjoying my time with you so far."

"Thanks, me too."

"There are no reservations under the name John Arc."

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at the word John but Jaune seemed oblivious to it. He simply furrowed his eyebrows and cast a look at Ashur.

"That's odd, I called and set things up... " He muttered as he pulled out his Scroll and shifted through his log before showing it to the dark-skinned man before him. "See?"

"I see. Still, no reservations under the name John Arc have been made."

"Jaune."

"Hm?" Jaune turned his head towards Pyrrha.

"Oh, not you, sorry." She said as she placed her hand onto his shoulder before turning to the host. "Sir, his name is _Jaune_ Arc, not _John_."

Ashur blinked and nodded before turning back to his computer, quickly typing it up.

"You've never had that problem with your name before, Jaune?"

"Not back home, haha…"

"There is no reservation under the name Jaune Arc, either."

"Are you fuc-" Jaune closed his eyes and bit his lip to stop himself from swearing on his date. Weiss wanted him to be classy, and he wanted to impress Pyrrha. "Did you spell it correctly, it's J-"

"-A-U-N-E, Jaune. That's how I spelled it, yes." Ashur said rather bluntly, turning his brown eyes to Jaune. His facial expression would be considered a bit rude or unprofessional had Pyrrha and Jaune not already known that it was the same he was making before. Despite that, Jaune still felt as though he was being judged.

"Hey, Ashur, right? Can I talk to you for a second?"

Ashur didn't say anything, he simply looked at the clock, Pyrrha, then back at Jaune and walked off to the side of the desk.

"Be right back, Pyrrha." The Knight said with a smile before walking over to the host.

"Dude, what gives?" He whispered to him immediately, poorly keeping his voice low.

"Hm?" Ashur gave Jaune a questioning look. "What is the problem?"

"Where's my reservation? I had to put a down payment on it, and I even tipped in advance!"

Pyrrha's giggle went unnoticed to the young Arc in the background.

"The computer says there are no reservations under the name John Arc, Jaune Arc, or anything with the name Arc in it at all."

"But-"

"While our logs did show that you did in fact call, you did not, however, place any reservation-"

"I did!" Jaune interrupted.

Ashur simply waited for Jaune to calm down before he began to speak again. "-under that name."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe you picked a different name for it?" Pyrrha offered from the background.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune complained, nodding his head to the side to imply he would handle it.

"Sorry!" The offending Champion remarked in her trademarked fashion.

"Okay, where were we…"

"Arkos." The host dryly stated seemingly out of random. "The reservation that was made at that exact time was under the name Arkos."

"Arkos..?" Jaune asked in confusion before it suddenly hit him. "OH, ARKOS!"

"What's Arkos?" Pyrrha couldn't help but butt in once again. Rather than say anything, she simply turned her gaze away from Jaune when he turned back at her. If she didn't, she'd see expression was a mixed one of embarrassment, distress, and minor annoyance.

When Jaune finally turned back to the stone-faced host, he let out a low sigh and trailed a hand through his hair. "Yes, Arkos is the reservation I made."

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes the slightest bit when she couldn't hear Jaune anymore as he finally began to actually whisper. She wanted to listen in on the conversation, but just remembered about her own reservation. All the shenanigans had made her forget about her plan for a few moments. While Jaune and Ashur walked back to their original positions, Pyrrha had quickly typed something up on her Scroll.

"Sorry about that, we got everything settled," Jaune awkwardly laughed as he smiled towards his date before turning back to Ashur. "I hope…"

As soon as the Knight turned his back, Pyrrha sprang into action and signaled Ashur's attention just as he finished typing 'Arkos' into the computer. When he looked up to see what it was she wanted, he was greeted by her raising her Scroll just over Jaune's shoulder enough for said Arc to be unable see it while Ashur could read it clearly.

For once, she was grateful to have such a monotonous host as he didn't so much as twitch as he read the words. Once he was done, he began typing away something else into the computer.

"Alright, 'Arkos' is right here… that's two VIP seats in the Champion's Balcony section overlooking most of Vale." Ashur said a bit more professionally and even added the slightest of smiles to Jaune as Pyrrha gave him thumbs up and a nod of thanks.

After that, Ashur signaled for one of the other workers, supposedly a waitress, to come over, who must have the same diet as Nora because she was in front of Jaune and Pyrrha almost immediately with a far more convincing smile than what Ashur could muster even if you paid him. Which, he _was_ technically being paid for. The woman, or girl depending on the working age of this restaurant, was short with long brunette hair that had been tied into a long french braid.

"Hannah, please take these two to their seats in the Champion's Balcony, you'll know the seats." Ashur said to the small redhead, apparently finding something funny enough to let out the tiniest of chuckles.

"The Champion's Balcony!? Wow, you must be pretty badass to get seats there!" The girl named Hannah all but shouted, her eyes becoming as wide as her smile while she was looking back and forward between Jaune and Pyrrha. While she was an open girl who tried not to profile customers, she could simply tell they were Huntsmen, and knew they must've been strong to get those seats. "You must be pretty special to him, too."

"Oh, um, thank you." Pyrrha had muttered just loud enough for the smaller girl to hear.

"Hannah."

"Oh, sorry, please come this way." The petite waitress quickly said as she bowed and briskly made her way towards the stairs that lead to the higher floors. She must've been embarrassed, because she moved far too quickly to be escorting a couple to their seats.

Jaune simply smiled at Pyrrha and held out his arm for her. "May I?

The Champion didn't bother hiding her smirk as she accepted the gesture by looping her own arm around his. "Why, thank you."

"Let's go before we get lost behind her."

* * *

The Golden Shield was an old, but high end restaurant in the center of Vale. It was world famous, at least that's what Weiss said when she suggested the place to Jaune. While most would imagine its origins being noble or more regal, the truth was far more humble. It was founded by a retired Huntress many years ago and had started off as a place to feature the many different foods that she had tried and enjoyed in her travels.

While her name wasn't remembered by most, her nickname was where the restaurant got its name. From what Jaune remembered reading on his Scroll earlier so he could impress his date with his knowledge of Huntsmen and Huntresses, the Golden Shield got her name for her long years of protecting people with her shield. It was said that she never once received a hit because of her skills with it. Hundreds of people owed their lives to her as she fought Grimm, stopped civil unrest, and just did whatever she could to help everyone. Because of the trophies along the walls, the skilled badass of an owner, and the overall diversity of the palate, the place took off in strides and quickly became a landmark stop for anyone visiting Vale. At some point or another, she handed over much of the rights to someone else and that's when the Golden Shield truly became a _must stop_ place.

But, because of that, the place could be called many things; luxurious, pristine, cultured, and expensive. Jaune wasn't exactly well versed in how much he should be paying for something labelled as the _Vacuo Spicy Surprise_ , but he was certain that this was too much lien for it.

' _What's the surprise, how quickly this will run through you or through your wallet? Seriously, it's just a fancy type of pizza with some secret sauce I'd get probably kicked out for if I used my hands to eat it.'_

As the Knight continued going through the menu with scrutiny, he spotted something written funny. _Pommes de terre rôti._ With a quick glance around the room, he squinted his eyes at the words on the menu, his mind practically stopping as he realized it was just carved beef, a roasted potato wrapped in lettuce leaves, asparagus and a side of bacon. Supposedly the meat was seasoned in Fire Dust.

' _Would that even be safe to eat!?'_ Jaune ranted to himself while he gripped the sides of his menu.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha tilted her head to the side slightly so she could see past her date's menu. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, just, uh… savoring the palate. Real fancy stuff."

Despite all of the small bumps that he had went through today, with the weird dream, his panic attack, the interrogation by RWBY, and finally the awkward check in, Jaune Arc could honestly say that he was having fun right now with Pyrrha.

* * *

Ruby Rose was not having fun right now, though that much could be surmised by the fact that she had sighed to herself for what must've been the millionth time. It was obviously an exaggeration, but she knew she was somewhere over fifty, since that was when lost count.

Time. That was another thing she had lost her sense of. Though the sun having descended and the shattered moon slowly rising into the sky at least told her she had spent several hours in her self-induced solitude.

She wasn't certain why she had come to the roof of the building to escape _them._ It honestly just brought the two to the forefront her mind, and she knew that she knew that, yet still remained on the roof, where all those training sessions _she_ had with him in private took place.

Of course, Jaune had eventually told her about them. Talked on and on that whole day about how grateful he truly was for Pyrrha helping him out like that, with Ruby forced to nod her head along as he gushed on about how great of a friend she was for it. Mainly because she felt touching upon the subject would somehow unequivocally force him to realize that what she was far from a friend, or at least, that's not what she wanted to be.

Ruby wanted to yell at him. To yell how she would have just as easily done the same for him. Yeah… she used a scythe as her main weapon, but Uncle Qrow had taught her other things too, how to use a sword included. But, she held her tongue. After all, she reasoned, Pyrrha was just being a good friend, and there was nothing wrong with that. Even after coming to that conclusion, Ruby had trouble realizing why she still felt that pit of raw emotion in her stomach for the longest time.

Now, well, it had been a long time since then. It felt even longer, truly. Unsure feelings had developed into confusing emotions, sometime between the start of Mt. Glenn and when they returned.

And… despite it all, even though Jaune kinda-sorta already was in a relationship thingy, she acted on it. It was in small, subtle ways, at first...but, then that entire scene in the elevator, and then the walk afterwards.

Did it mean nothing to him!? Was that his way of shrugging her off, telling her he just wanted to be friends without having to actually say the words? Because he certainly hadn't shrugged her off in the elevator. She could still feel his breath on her lips, feel the urge to push herself forward the tiniest of inches and connect the two in the most intimate of ways.

But, in the end, she hadn't. And quite possibly more important, he hadn't either. What did that mean? Ruby knew she shouldn't be thinking such things; he was a taken man, after all. But, no matter what, she couldn't manage to make herself feel guilty over the fact, instead just getting angry at herself for not doing anything before it. Jaune, though… based on the way that Pyrrha had failed to react negatively in any way she could perceive the day after, he hadn't told her.

That was another thing, the secrets. He kept them from Ozpin, he kept them from Pyrrha, could he be keeping them from her as well?

For the first time in quite a few hours, the frown on her face morphed into a thin line. Wiping away the remnants of the streaks her tears had left, Ruby stood up, a single thought consuming her mind. She'd confront Jaune, the moment he'd came back, and she would get _all_ her answers.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **IMPORTANT**

 **Prick: I made another one shot story, still Lancaster! This is one is...smut. The shame, the shame, I know. But those of you who like the stuff will find your way there. Depending on the reception, I may or may not do more smut in the future, there really are a long a lot of factors at play. I'm also now part of a Lancaster Community. Go ahead and search the 3 pages of the RWBY Communities and find us, To The Socially Awkward, on page 2, as of now, anyways, with 14 stories, soon to include my own. I'm also co-authoring a new story with NightBringerX, Black Knight Of Beacon, with Little Prick as a beta as well! So you know it's mint quality! It's main character is, who else, Jaune fucking Arc! So, give it a looksie, I promise you either will or won't be disappointed, or possibly even neutral!**

 **Fate: So, that was chapter twenty seven in all its glory. I decided on adding that whole confusion with Jaune's name was for two, maybe three reasons. One of which was because I found it funny. It was actually something I've seen people do for his name, hell, I used to think it was John, too. The last reason was because it is** _ **very**_ **relatable for me given my name. My name has been butchered so many times, I simply tell people to call me by my first initial. My phone bill was to the wrong name, one of my paychecks was written to the wrong name, and a long list of other instances. My personal favorite was when the lady in charge of detention called me 'Xavatar', even though there was no letter T in my name.**

 **Prick: I just call him Little Prick. Saves time.**

 **Fate: No you don't, nor should you ever. I said earlier that I was going to make an announcement at the end of this chapter, and here we go. Many of you may remember the event Nine Days of Lancaster about five months ago, well, this new event was originally going to be a week, from October 15th to the 22nd to celebrate Volume Four's debut, but now I will be extending it to the full month of October because of a joke OrganofFlames made to me. The event will be dedicated to OCs and just like the last event, you can participate with art, stories, videos, or just by telling your friends about it. I'm saying all of this now, because my mistake with Nine Days of Lancaster was that I didn't give anyone a heads up. Well, that, and I accidentally got everyone during final exams, haha.**

 **Prick: And, in all seriousness, a moment for remembrance to all those affected fifteen years ago. Y para my Abuelo, todovia te recuerdamos.  
**


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